No More Secrets
by Zeeza63
Summary: Sequal to 'Another Kind of Mutation'. Summary inside chapter.
1. Prologue

Summery: It's been almost two years after the great escape from the labs and expirements and mutants are settling into their lives of freedom and new family. But when an odd flock of robots appear hunting the skies things start to change as a new enemy rises with familiar faces. With a capture of a fellow expirement everyone is risked exposure to the public. Will everyone be able to stay in the dark, or will the secrets of existance be spilled? and who's this new jumpy character that can't stay in one spot for more than a few seconds?

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**Prologue**

In an average town, out in the average country, with the average woods bordering the side of town there was an average baseball diamond being used by an average teenage ball team. It was practice time on an average spring afternoon, though a not so average teenage boy sat in the dugout with a laptop.

Damien E. Vansant scanned over the internet during the snack break. He was one of the few guys on the team that actually had a computer of his own. And one of the few with lucky parents that traveled the world and trusted the sixteen-year-old to the house by himself, but no one knew where his house was exactly. No one looked for it, and Damien never invited anyone. Plenty offered to walk home with him, but he refused every time. Parents offered to drive but he said he'd rather walk. After a while his teammates just gave up.

"What'cha doin'?" one of his teammates asked, plopping down on the bench next to him.

"Nothing," Damien muttered.

"Free experiments chat dot com?" the boy read the site address.

"It's just a chat room website," Damien said and looked through the alphabetical names. First he scanned through the 'A's. "Damn, Alex still hasn't signed up…" he muttered a little surprised. _Next month's the second anniversary of freedom for all of us and Alex, Razor, and Gorf haven't found the site yet? They couldn't be dead… could they?_

"D… E… V? What's up with that?" the boy read the username.

"My initials you dolt," Damien said distractedly and scrolled through the names.

"Double D, Doc, Piper, Bruiser, Basher, Bomber, Slasher?" the team mate listed off the more interesting looking names. "You know all these people?" he asked.

"Would you go away already?" Damien said sharply when a window popped up on his browser.

"Hi Dev!" a six-year-old girl said waving happily. Sitting beside her was a boy with messy hair with a red and black scarf around his neck coloring a picture with a box of markers. From what the web cam could catch the boy was very good at drawing considered that he looked merely five.

"Hi Eli," Damien said. "Hey Psych."

The coloring boy looked up, waved without saying anything, and turned back to his coloring job.

"Who's that?" the ball player beside Damien asked.

"Some friends of mine now go away," Dev said and turned back to the computer. "Is Bomber around?"

Eli shook her head. "He's out grocery shopping again. I'm trying to convince him to get a puppy, but he still says no."

"You guys there by yourselves?"

"Would you leave?!" Suddenly a whistle sounded from out on the field. Dev huffed and stood up. "I gotta go Eli, say hi to Bomber for me, and good luck with that dog thing."

"'Kay bye!" Eli said as Dev turned the computer off and put it in his bag.

Dev and his teammate walked out of the shade of the dugout to continue practice. The boy the entire town knew as 'Damien,' was in the middle of practicing his batting, cracking the ball against the bat and flinging it to the edge of the outfield every time, when it happened. At first it was nothing but a faint buzzing that reached their ears. When it got louder the teenagers started to look around. As it got louder still there was no denying that the buzzing was there and Dev started to back away from home plate, eyes scanning the cloud dotted sky. Whatever was there saw him before he saw it.

With a colorful exclamation Dev leapt back as red lasers pounded the ground where he had been standing only seconds before. If that wasn't enough the things that landed near the pitcher's mound (the pitcher having ran for his life at spotting the creatures) weren't the robotic bugs that had been buried underneath the Statue of Liberty almost two years ago. Instead there were three giant, metallic birds. From head to sharp talon they stood five and a half feet tall, which meant the wingspans were even larger. The 'wing feathers' looked like long knives, the beaks were sharply pointed also, and the only color other than silver were the robotic red eyes. On the chest of the things were three holes were the lasers had been shot from and the tails were like opened fans to help keep control in the air.

_What are these things? _Dev wondered. _Where'd they come from? More importantly: what do they want?_

When the birds landed the baseball team yelled in surprise and ran for cover while Dev ran for his backpack. He slung it over his shoulder and made it out of the dugout right before the place was bombarded with lasers, the chain link fence didn't stand a chance. When he turned to face his attackers all three birds were moving towards him, claws digging into the dirt as the robots walked.

_Let's see, show everyone my wings, get shot to death, or run on foot… _The decision was obvious as Dev took off for the exit. The robots took flight behind him. One tried to land on top of him but he dodged at the last second, the second one shot at him from the sky, and the third landed outside the exit, blocking his escape route.

Dev skidded to a stop and looked around for a plan B. The three birds were coming forward, forming a tight triangle. There was no way to get by them now without getting caught by one of the sharp looking wings.

"Aw crap," he muttered and ripped the back of his baseball uniform with a pair of dark brown feathered wings. With a jump he took off for the skies. "No pile of circuits beats me in my element!" he yelled as the robots took flight after him. But he wasn't expecting a fourth robot waiting for him from above the clouds. While the free experiment was looking down the metal bird dove down and grabbed one of his wings with a talon.

"Ah!" he exclaimed in a mix of surprise and pain as the claws dug through the feathers and cut through the skin underneath. He kicked and struggled trying to pull away while the free wing frantically flapped so his weight stayed off the trapped body part.

The robot that had him didn't know gentleness as it tried to get a hold of the other wing. In hatred to all robots Dev grabbed a pocketknife from his shoe, flipped it open and jammed it into the joint of the leg. The robot-bird jerked as sparks flew from the injury.

_God, if I didn't know any better I'd say it could feel pain… _he thought as he pulled and wrenched trying to free his wing. That was a mistake. His wing finally did come free from the jammed talon, but not without the sound of a _crack_ and searing pain. The boy tried to catch himself from the fall, but flying wasn't all the great with only one good wing.

One of the other robots tried to grab him, but missed creating a long gash going down the length of his arm.

The ground came up fast. He slowed down a few miles per hour but the landing was still painful as he rolled across the dirt. When he finally came to a stop his arm stung and was making a red mess as ribbons of blood flowed over his skin, and his wing pulsed with agony as it hung at an odd angle, each slightest movement sending more pain to his brain.

With sharp breaths he rolled over onto his uncut side, quickly pulled his bag off his back and dug through it. _Well I was saving this for an emergency… _he thought regretfully as he pulled the laser gun he kept from his escape from the labs, the eternal battery good for another hundred years. With accurate eye hand coordination he shot at the robots that were coming back for him. A few lasers missed, but the majority of them hit their mark. Within moments the birds were nothing but sparking hunks of metal lying sprawled on the ground.

Gasps made up Dev's breathing as he watched his baseball team come out from hiding. All of their faces shared the looks of astonishment, disbelief, and lingering fear.

"Shit, shit, shit, shit, crappy shit," he hissed under his breath as he forced himself to his feet, each movement seeming to jerk the broken bone. He backed up from his so called 'peers', even though he was around seven-eight-nine years older than them.

Scenes from movies flashed through his mind. There were a number of different reactions that could happen at times like this.

Then the coach came forward. He was a team member's dad who had volunteered to coach, and looked like the average dad: short brown hair, shaved chin, and a whistle hanging around his neck by a string, rough hands from fixing things around the house…

Dev watched him with a careful eye, searching for the first sign of a threat. As time seemed to stop Dev could feel his blood drain from his face to exit through his arm along with the bleeding tears in his bad wing. The pain from the broken bone was dulling his mind to everything else around him. Within the minutes of shocked silence the teen swayed, fell to his knees and blacked out.

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Dun, dun, dun... Poor Dev, first chapter/prologue and he already has a broken wing and a torn up arm. Dev: (evil glare and holds up laser gun) You got to the count of five. 1...

Wow, I didn't mean to get this out as fast as this chapter, but what can I do? I write to much and I already had this idea growing so I just started it.

**_4..._**

Um, I gotta go before I get blasted, I'll see ya guys later!


	2. Territorial

**Chapter One**

**Territorial**

The dark allies of New York City could hold many things late at night among the dumpsters and graffiti. It was inside one of these allies that a long, skinny, pink object hung over a cluster of open trashcans underneath a fire escape. The restless flies that were zooming about over the rotting trash would occasionally run into this odd object and get stuck as if it were flypaper. The object had been hanging there for the past hour drying out in the air, but it was all worth it for the _taste_.

When it was finally decided that that last fly wasn't going to follow his friends and _get stuck already_, the long pink object was pulled up into a hole and the owner dropped from the underside of the fire escape.

With a gulp and a burp Gorf stretched his legs and licked his lips. He looked back at the lone fly still buzzing dizzily around the ripening trash. Following the insect with his trained eye he timed it and shot a 'clean' tongue out. The tip caught the fly and he sucked the remains of his snack into his mouth before he could find out what bricks tasted like.

A content smile on his face, Gorf started out of the alley hands in his jacket pockets. It may be spring but the nights were still hanging around the high fifties which was too cold for his amphibian half to stand.

As he headed for dock thirteen he hesitated at the sound of footsteps. Looking over his shoulder proved to be unhelpful, as it always was when you were being followed. Closing his eyes he slowly started taking a few more steps down the sidewalk, being careful that his bare feet didn't make much noise of their own.

And there it was: footsteps alright. Four- five pairs if he was correct. He glanced over his shoulder again. He didn't see anything, but there was the distinct sound of something running into a trashcan, which upset a tomcat, then the sound of someone getting smacked.

"You can come out," Gorf called to whoever was there. "I can hear you plenty. If you're not an insect I won't bite."

He waited for only a second. When there wasn't a response he suddenly took off at a run. His thoughts of danger were confirmed at the sound of shoes smacking cement behind him. They were gaining, he could hear it. With a few skips to get his feet in unison he leapt up and grabbed the top of a streetlight easily.

Looking under him as he squatted on the thin pole, he saw the group of rough-looking guys underneath him, at least three of them holding a metal pipe or chain. They were staring up at him in bewilderment. With a playful salute Gorf tensed his leg muscles and leapt again right into the roof of the nearest building.

The same content smile covered his face as he hopped along the roofs humming to himself.

_Man, for a moment there I was beginning to think I'd need the Shell Cell after all… _the boy thought to himself, feeling the reassuring device clipped to his belt. It had been given to him with the guys trying to get him to "call first", but the surprised expressions on their faces when he just popped up out of God knew where never got old.

That's when he heard another sound. Not of following footsteps, but of rubber bouncing off cement. He hopped to the edge of the building and looked down. Across the street from his building, under a single yellow bulb that seemed to simply create darker shadows than light, was an old vacant lot fenced in by chain link. The cement floor was somewhat cracking, and an ancient-looking basket ball hoop was hung up on the farthest brick wall. Inside this lot were four bodies.

A small devilish smile appeared on Gorf's face. _Speaking of the guys…_

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The orange ball bounced rhythmically under the black hand. Blood red and large black eyes glared into each other. Weight shifting from shoe to shoe, the player stepped one way, causing the opponent to try and block, but the former quickly changed directions, spun around that latter, threw the ball up over her head and-

"Intercepted!" came a cheerful cry as the ball was kept out of the hoop by a green body suddenly sitting in the basket.

"Gorf!" came four voices, though only three were annoyed.

Gorf just laughed as he hugged the basketball to his stomach.

"Get down," Alex said with crossed arms at her stolen point. "You're gonna break it."

"Will not," Gorf argued. "My very small diet of insects won't let me gain much weight. It's very possible that the force you put on this hoop with the strength you throw the ball is equal, if not a little more, than me sitting in it. I'm barely a hundred pounds, I weighed myself!"

"With what?" Razor challenged.

"Why?" Raph asked.

Gorf opened his mouth to answer only to close it again looking up at the sky. "I… don't… know…" he said slowly and shrugged, jumping off the hoop and landing nimbly on the ground and looked over his friends' 'disguises'. The still human Michelangelo was no problem with a jacket tied around his waist and a white tank top on. Razor he kept his mouth closed to hide his teeth, and wore baggy pants that concealed his bare, four toed feet. Alex had a dark sweatshirt on with a hood ready to be flipped up to conceal her blue hair, and hide the grey patch of skin around his eyes. A pair of gloves was inside her pockets if they were needed to hide the fact that her hands were a different skin color than the rest of her body. Raphael on the other hand was wearing a baggy jacket and pants, and a hat; his clothes carefully put on to look natural, but covered most of his skin.

The frog boy started bouncing the basketball. "Come on guys, I wanna play! I was on my way to bed but this looks fun."

"Gorf you'll make an odd number," Razor said.

"So?" Gorf shrugged. "Come on, two-on-two-on-one. I can take all y'all," he said determinedly.

"Cool," Mikey said. "Prepare to get your tail whooped."

"Bring it turtle," Gorf said and passed him the ball. They played teams for a little while. Mikey with Alex, Razor with Raph and Gorf by himself, but as time progressed it somehow turned into a rule-less game with everyone by themselves.

"Ow, Raph you cheated!" Alex exclaimed holding a scraped arm, which was exposed by rolled up sleeves, after she was knocked down by the great turtle. Of course the skin immediately mended itself, but that was beside the point!

"Did not, this is street ball," Raph argued. "Suck it up or get off the court."

"More like half a court," Mikey pointed out helping Alex up.

"Not even," Razor shook his head.

Gorf grabbed the ball from the ground, his back to the basketball hoop. When he straightened up he squeaked and dropped the ball.

Questioningly Mikey turned to see what their friend was looking at. "Uh guys, I think we got some company."

Raph, Alex and Razor turned to the entrance of the lot. There stood a group of muscular thugs not looking very friendly, or happy for that matter. The apparent leader stepped forward, Raph could see the bulge of a gun underneath his shirt.

"This is Dragon territory," the man said.

"What is this entire city _Dragon territory_?" Razor asked dryly.

"Yes," one of the guys behind the fence said. "And this is our court."

"Who plays Basketball a quarter to midnight?" Razor retorted.

"We do."

"Mike who's side are you on!"

Gorf put his hands up in peace. "Maybe we could share the court," he suggested also able to make out the shape of the concealed weapon. Guns always made him nervous and he was trying hard not to slime under his clothes like he always did when nervous.

"Sorry," the leader said unapologetically and drew his gun. "But we don't share well."

Alex and Razor clenched their fists as Mike and Raph stepped back, slowly reaching for the weapons hidden under their shirts. As his friends got ready to fight Gorf held back his midnight snack, feeling his hands become slippery with slime as his body shook.

Seeing the stances of resistance, the leader looked over each one of them until he picked a target. "It seems your friend here is looking a bit green, maybe I could put him out of his misery."

Gorf squeaked again as the gun pointed at him, hands starting to drip as he felt his shirt get stuck to his back. The man could have meant Raph, but the turtle's face was still concealed under his hat.

When still no one moved to surrender the armed man grew annoyed and pulled the trigger

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It was pure instinct at the clap of thunder that was the gunshot. One minute Gorf was standing there unable to move as the bullet came towards him, the next the boy was sprawled on the ground and Mikey was leaning against the brick wall clutching a bleeding shoulder.

"Mikey!" the remaining three fighters exclaimed and turned back to the Purple Dragons with growls.

Alex was the first one to run forward. Startled at the sudden advance the man shot again, but Alex dodged and the bullet just grazed her arm, the girl didn't even flinch. By the time he shot again she had covered the hole of the gun with her palm. The bullet backfired, not even burning the black skin, and the shooter cried out in pain as he dropped the gun holding his hand.

"Get 'em!" he roared stumbling backwards in pained shock. His followers jumped forward and Alex jumped back, throwing the useless gun at one of the men, hitting him square in the face.

The attack was eight against three – the odds Raph would have enjoyed if it wasn't for his wounded brother sitting behind him with Gorf helping to apply pressure to the shot shoulder. He kicked the guy in front of him in the chest, knocking him back into two others. Stepping forward as they tried to get to their feet Raph grabbed two of them and clapped their heads together. As for the other one that had made it as far as his feet, Raph punched him in the face. The force knocked the man back into the brick wall, banging his head there. With a groan he slid to the ground and out of consciousness.

While on the other side of the half-court Razor ducked as a metal pipe swung over his head. Angrily he brought his leg up and kicked back, hitting the assailant just below the belt. Razor spun around as the Purple Dragon doubled over in pain and was about to kick him across the face with his heel when someone tried to grab him from behind. They missed his head and pulled the bandana off instead.

Feeling the absence of the cloth Razor whipped around to face the one that had grabbed it. The boy lunged at him, sending both of them rolling on the floor until they stopped with Razor pinning the guy on the ground baring his sharp, jagged teeth. The gang member stared at him in horror.

Knowing in the back of his mind that he couldn't actually bite a human, Razor had to compromise by balling up his fists and punching the guy multiple times across the face until he knocked off the beaten man by the one he had kicked. Quickly retaliating with a swift uppercut to the jaw the Purple Dragon was knocked down in a daze.

Alex was making swift work of the three she was stuck with. After nearly two years of ninja training she was finally getting the hang of group fights. Sure one of them was going to have the mark of a claw scarred on his face, the other a hell of a headache after getting his head bashed into the wall, and the third was never going to wake back up from a deep ax cut in his chest on accident, but she had won without needing help.

Still breathing angrily, Raph went over to his hurt brother and asked the standard question, "Mike, you okay?"

"Yeah," Mikey gasped. "There's just a bullet in my arm… no big deal. Sorry I- missed out on the fight."

"We should get him out of here," Gorf said, blood seeping between his fingers as he pressed against the wound. Raph nodded and helped get Mikey to his feet, Mike cringing as he moved.

"Razor come on," Alex said they headed out of the mini Basketball court.

Before he left Razor grabbed the bandana from one of the guys on the ground, holding it up he saw a rip half an inch long in the material. "You piece of- you tore it!" he yelled at the unconscious body and took a step towards it when Alex grabbed his arm.

"Mikey's _shot_ if you don't remember," she sharply reminded him. "Now come _on_."

Grumbling angrily Razor hurried after Alex as they ran ahead of Gorf and Raph, who were helping Mike down the street, and opened the nearest manhole cover. It took a few minutes, and some pained groaning, before they could get Mike into the sewers.

When they finally walked through the door Leonardo and Donatello looked over from the couch. They were against the four going out. But Mikey had been harder to contain now that he could walk freely topside, and Raph seemed to becoming even more rebellious with Alex and Razor there to slip out with him against Master Splinter's wishes.

Now as the group came in the two on the couch jumped up. Leo ran to get the first-aid kit at the sight of blood and Don quickly came forward. "What happened?"

Alex quickly explained as Don took the bullet from Mikey's shoulder and cleaned the hole before bandaging it. While Mikey was being taken care of the rest were summoned to the kitchen by Master Splinter.

"This is exactly why I do not like you going to the surface," the old rat stated sternly. Raph, Razor and Alex stood in a line before the father-figure looking at the floor, Leo leaning against a counter with crossed arms in concern for their youngest sibling. "Situations such as this can be avoided if you would heed my warnings about the surface. If you would have stayed in tonight like I had asked blood would not have been shed." At the last statement Alex self consciously curled her tail up behind her back to hide the crimson blade.

"Um…" Gorf muttered, also standing in the guilty line beside Raphael though he didn't have to be since he technically wasn't under the command of Splinter. He gave a quick bow. "W-with all d-due respect M-master Splinter," he stuttered still shaken up about the whole event. "I take full blame for Mike getting shot."

Everyone looked at him in questioning surprise.

"I-if I wasn't there he wouldn't have had to protect me and take the bullet," Gorf quickly explained. "I'm sorry," he added after a second.

Master Splinter sighed. "There is no need to apologize. You could not have stopped the man from pulling the trigger, and we cannot change what has been done. We must be grateful that Michelangelo did not receive more severe injuries and that the rest of you are unharmed. Now let us not dwell in the past and prey for a fast recovery."

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Poor Mikey, I'm so mean, oh h-hey Raph... Heh, you can put the sais down. Mabe we can talk this out!

Okay guys, I don't have much to say right now, which is good because I don't have much time with Raph wanting to kill me. So I'm going to go run for my life, and hope for you guys to review.

Oh, one last thing: thank you to Puldoh, Sami-SDGForce, and ChibiLover123 for either commenting and/or faving on this story. Special thanks to ChibiLover123, who reviewed on nearly every chapter of 'Another Kind of Mutation'.

(ducks under flying sai) Okay, I better go see ya next chapter. REVIEW!


	3. Grounded

**Chapter Two**

**Grounded**

The boy shivered underneath the thin white sheet. _Why am I so cold? _he wondered to himself as he floated out of his heavy sleep. Mentally checking over his body he found a soft surface pushing up against his chest, a light throbbing pulsed from his right arm, and his left wing was stiff and painful when he tried to move it. A foul smell of disinfectants filled his nose enough to make him winkle it, and an annoying beeping was filling his ears.

As another shiver ran down his spine and irritated his wing he cracked an eye open. One look made him open his eyes wider and lift his head. He was laying face down on a sterile white bed. Beside the bed was a heart monitor, which explained the beeping. Next to the monitor was an IV bag filled with a liquid that was being fed into his left arm through a tube. The print was too small for him to read the label on the bag.

With a groan Dev got on his knees and turned around to sit on his butt. Moving made him feel lightheaded and he had to stop a moment for the feeling to pass. When he didn't feel like puking he looked down at himself. His shirt was gone, his right arm was bandaged from the shoulder to the wrist, and feathers surrounded him on the sheets. Picking one up he brought it up to his face and felt it between his fingers with a scowl.

After a minute his gaze passed beyond the feather and saw an open door on the wall across from the bed. He looked around the room for a moment. There was a window to his left with sunlight coming in through the glass. A pair of chairs and a mini table stood beside the window. Cheap paintings covered the walls that could be found inside a hotel room- or a hospital room.

Dev covered his face with his left hand, eyes closed. He waited a few moments and looked around.

_Nope, not a dream, damn it._

Shoving the sheet off of himself he swung his legs over the edge of the bed. Grabbing the IV he yanked it out of his arm and stood up. A shiver went up his spine as his bare feet hit the cold tiled floor and he swayed for a moment as he felt the blood rush from his head. When the lightheaded feeling passed he stumbled on weak legs to the open door.

The room was a bathroom. Flipping on the light he looked into the mirror while leaning on the sink. A pale sixteen-year-old gazed back at him, eyes asking angrily _'Why did you show everyone? What have you gotten yourself into?'_. With a heavy sigh he turned his eyes to the reflection of his wings. The right one was naturally folded up behind him like it should be, while the left wing was partly sticking out to the side because of the splint. The feathers looked horribly ruffled, and the splint probably explained the molted feathers lying on the bed.

With a long exhale he ran his hands through his hair. "I need air."

...--...

Wesley Summers walked down the hallway, drinking a soda from the plastic bottle he had gotten from the vending machine. It was 1:00 in the afternoon as he passed the numerous doors, glancing at the numbers beside the door frames.

The doctors had told him it was too early for general visitors, but when the front desk said no family had come to see him he was allowed up. Personally Wesley didn't know Damian very well, the guy rarely talked to anyone when he didn't have to, but since he was the last person Damian had talked to before everything got weird Wesley felt obliged to visit.

And, though he hadn't told anyone, he was beginning to think Damian didn't have any family, the whole 'parents traveling the world' thing was starting to sound like a big excuse. But these were just his thoughts.

Wesley stopped at door labeled 415 and slowly eased it open. The front desk told him to be quiet, Damian was probably still asleep. He was also advised not to excite, or stress the teen with the amount of blood he had lost, the doctors not wanting to risk giving him blood since they had done a small test to get the type of blood and found animal DNA in him. There was also the fact that a veterinarian had been summoned to set the broken wing.

Walking quietly into the room Wesley looked around and found an empty bed. The bathroom door was open- so was the window, with feathers resting on the floor underneath it.

The baseball player jumped back into the hallway and stopped a passing nurse. "Uh, excuse me, do you know about the patient in that room?"

"Four-fifteen? The whole hospital knows about him, why?" the nurse asked.

"Do you know if he's been moved?"

The nurse slowly shook her head. "I'm… not sure. I wouldn't think so."

"Well the windows open and he's gone."

At the word gone the nurse quickly stepped around him and looked into the room. When she saw the empty bed she rushed to the window, Wesley followed as they looked out though it was impossible for the boy to fly with the broken wing.

"Can I have a shirt now?"

Both Wesley and the nurse almost had heart attacks when they found Dev sitting on the narrow ledge that wrapped around the building on each floor.

"D-don't move," the nurse said. "We-we'll get you down."

"Down?" Dev asked, giving them a sideways glance. "Do you have any idea how long it took me to get _up_? That window is smaller than it looks."

"Damian, are you nuts?" Wesley asked as he looked down. "We're four stories up."

Dev looked down. "Hey would you look at that?" he said sarcastically and turned his gaze back to the sky. After a moment he held up a finger to make a list. "First of all, I've been up higher, secondly my name is Dev, and thirdly I like it better here. The hospital stinks, no offense."

"You can't stay out here," the nurse said.

Dev sighed, kicking the wall with the back of his heels. "Yeah, I'm kind of cold. Tell ya what, get me a shirt or something, my laptop, and my gun, oh and my knife if you can find it, and I'll go back inside."

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_Ting-a-ling-a-ling_

"I am going to destroy that bell," Raph growled.

"And he's only had it for a few hours," Alex groaned as she reluctantly pulled the headphones off and got to her feet.

"Where's Razor? He hasn't done anything for him yet," Raph said scornfully.

"I don't know. He disappeared an hour ago."

The bell started ringing faster.

"I'm coming!" Alex called and walked out of Raph's room where the two had been hiding for the past twenty minutes and tried hard not to stomp to the injured's room. "Yes?" she asked from the doorway.

Mikey sat on his bed surrounded by comforts, from a throne of borrowed pillows to a collection of handheld videogames to a glass of water that never went empty to a pile of board games waiting to be played. The now hated bell was sitting on the blankets beside Mike. At the sight of Alex the gunshot victim held up an empty cup with an innocent smile.

Biting her tongue Alex walked forward, grabbed the cup and headed for the kitchen.

"I take it you and Raphael are taking care of Michelangelo well?" Splinter said also in the kitchen making a pot of tea.

"Yes sensei," Alex muttered, filling the cup with ice water. "But…"

"But?" Splinter repeated with a raised eye brow.

"Why do we have to wait on Mike hand and foot?" Alex asked. "I mean things here and there sure, but I played Uno thirty-seven times with him at 11:30 this morning. And why'd you give him a _bell_?"

"Alexandra, the bell is simply to tell when Michelangelo is in need of something so he doesn't have to shout," Splinter explained easily. "Are you, Raphael, and Razor not just simply showing your hospitality to your wounded brother?"

Knowing there really wasn't an answer that expressed her feelings about the grounding of becoming Mikey's servants, even if that wasn't how Splinter had worded it. So instead she just said "Yeah sure," and carried the cup back to Mike's room.

With her task now complete Alex went back upstairs where she had left her MP3. As the girl disappeared into Raph's room Razor finally appeared, walking in from the sewers carrying a plastic bag. He had just walked into the kitchen when he was met by Splinter.

"If I may ask Razor, where have you been hiding today while Raphael and Alexandra have been helping Michelangelo stay comfortable in his injury?"

"H-h-hiding? I-I wasn't hiding," Razor said a little too quickly as he scratched his head, moving the plastic bag behind his back. "And I can assure you I wasn't in the sewers when you had clearly stated that Alex, Mike, Raph and I weren't to go topside."

"Hm…" Splinter looked Razor in the eye. Razor stood there trying not to break eye contact as it seemed the old rat was examining his soul. After what felt like eternity and a year Splinter finally moved and walked past the guilty experiment.

Razor let out a breath of relief.

"Oh," Splinter said before going to his room. Razor sucked the breath back in like he had never let it out. "And be sure to stitch your bandana up carefully with your newly bought needle and thread, we would not want your brother to think you cannot take care of it, would we?"

Razor turned around to stare at the rat as he walked to his room with the pot of tea. He had told Splinter about Sharp Mouth after they had had an anniversary part for him and Alex for the first whole year permanently away from the labs. During the party Razor had somehow lost his bandana and spent the following two days turning the lair upside down and inside out looking for it. When Leo finally found it caught behind the numerous TV sets, Razor was ready to dismantle the entire entertainment center in fear of the material getting caught on a wire or something, and tearing if they tried to just pull it out. After he had it safely on his head again Splinter had respectfully asked why it was so important to him and Razor had explained everything.

It was true that Razor had slipped out of the lair to go hunt for the specific shade of green that made the bandana so he could repair it, even against the grounding punishment given to him, Raph and Alex for going out at night.

Guessing he wasn't in further trouble for going out because of the reason he went out, Razor sat down at the table and pulled the pack of needles and spool of thread from the plastic bag in his hand. He pulled the bandana off his head, swore under his breath as he impatiently tried to thread the needle, and finally set to work on the rip in his most prized possession.

Five minutes later Razor appeared in Don's doorway where the turtle was working on another big invention. "Hey Don," he said while sucking on the side of his index finger.

"Yeah?"

"Where're the band-aids?"

"Why?" Don asked, turning in his swivel chair to actually look at the boy.

"I kind of… stabbed… myself."

"On what?" Don asked with a hint of alarm as he searched Razor's body for blood with his eyes. In the home of a family of ninjas there were multiple large, sharp objects lying around, from kitchen knives to katanas. Don could remember one time when Mikey had made a mistake while handling his grappling hook and cut himself on that.

"A needle," Razor said meekly, like it was something to be embarrassed about.

Don's mind immediately thought of medical syringes. "What kind of needle?"

Razor looked to the side and held up a small sewing needle, green string still hanging from the eye.

Relief covered the patch of concern in Don's mind as he went to a first-aid kit in the corner of his bedroom/lab. Razor accepted the band-aid that was pulled from the kit and started to walk away when he was stopped for a second.

"Hey, what are you doing with needles anyway?"

"Just repairing something," Razor said as he wrapped his finger in the band-aid while he continued walking. He was about to reach his chair at the table when the sound of a bell could be heard coming from Mikey's room, almost immediately after a grumbling Raph appeared coming down the stairs of the second story. Upon seeing Razor the turtle grabbed him by the arm and practically kicked him into Mike's room before going back to his bedroom.

"Hi Razor!" Mikey said happily from his bed and held up a deck of cards. "Wanna play Crazy 8's?"

...--... ...--... ...--... ...--... ...--... ...--... ...--...

Up in the city police were hanging around a supposed 'crime scene'. In a small Basketball court that only had one hoop, eight young men had been found earlier that morning by a passerby. Seven of them had been knocked out, and one killed. At first it was just thought to be a gang beating on another gang, because of the blood on the ground by the wall with the hoop that was well away from the dead body. But the descriptions the ones that were still alive were giving were incomprehensible, and the way the one young man was killed was odd.

While it appeared the dead body was killed by an ax of all things, the others kept giving descriptions of a girl with a tail, a boy with jagged teeth like a shark, another boy with green skin, and another one supposed to be male with green three fingered hands. The police officers were beginning to think that the men had been drunk when they were assaulted, but it didn't explain why someone would be carrying around an ax to kill someone.

One of the officers collected a sample of the mystery blood that had been spilled near the wall. With a quick look around he secretly pulled a small device from his coat and inserted the sample. After a second a big green plus sign appeared on the screen and the word 'POSSITIVE' in green letters.

"Inhuman," the man mumbled with a dark smirk and quickly put the device away before anyone saw it. Turning away he headed out of the crime scene and as he ducked under the yellow tape he ran into some kid with a hat covering his face, knocking the boy to the ground.

"Oh, sorry," the boy said quickly, jumped to his feet, and continued to run down the sidewalk.

The officer glared at the boy's retreating back for bumping into him, when he glimpsed something strange. The boy wasn't wearing any shoes, and, if he was correct, he had _green _feet.

Muttering to himself about the possibilities of the green skin, the man went down the sidewalk. But instead of heading to the police station, he walked to the back of an alley. Pushing in a specific brick a keypad appeared. After quickly punching in the number the wall disappeared and he walked into an elevator.

Walking out of the elevator some hundred feet below the surface the man entered a lab. It was nowhere near the size and glory of its big sister, but it would do for the time being. At the moment the lab was bent on creating this new type of robot. They were more functional, faster, intelligent, and six foot birds looked more menacing than two foot bugs.

The man went to one of the robots standing by for orders. He pressed a button on the back of the robots head. The beak opened and a tray slid out. The blood sample was put on the tray before it slid back in.

"Locate target," the man said.

The voice activated robot's red eyes turned on. It opened its wings and flew up into a waiting shaft in the ceiling.

The man watched it go before he turned to a man sitting in a big chair in front of a bigger computer. "They feel safe, still in the city."

The head scientist was smiling darkly as the tracker on the robot appeared on a window in the computer. "They may have won the battle, but the war has yet to begin."

* * *

Wait, aren't these guys supposed to be dead?

Alex: (looks over shoulder) Who are supposed to be dead?

(quickly covers computer screen) Ah! No one! (while hiding computer screen) Uh, anyway... wait was I going to say? Ugh, why is it I already know what I want to say here when I'm still writing the chapter, but when I'm ACTUALLY writing the Author's Notes I can't remember?! Its very annoying! Um... ... ... Ugh, I can't think of anything. And watch, as soon as I hit the submit button I'll remember. Stupid short-term memory loss thing.

Okay, so I'll stop rambling I'll just go ahead and say thank you to Puldoh and ChibiLover123 for reviewing, and you guys and Sami-SDGForce for the favs. You guys rock, and thanks for letting me know people actually like my writing. Woo! Anyway, I'm gonna go now, I'm hungry for lunch.

REVIEW!


	4. A Frog's Factory

**Chapter Three**

**A Frog's Factory**

The sound of splashing echoed down the sewers. Breath coming so hard he could taste the foul smell of the sewage. His heart pounded in his ears as it beat against his ribcage in a mix of physical activity and fear.

A wet, green streak zoomed into the liar as Leo walked out of Splinter's room. It was a collision course that knocked both bodies to the ground. Everyone came to inspect the crash, even Mikey who stumbled his way out of his room.

"Ugh, Gorf what was that for?" Leo asked as he sat on the floor.

The boy didn't respond, just laid on the floor breathing like he had just run ten miles.

"Gorf you okay?" Alex asked as the boy sat up.

"Sci… sci…" he tried to say but was breathing too hard get more than a syllable out. "Sci…"

"Sci- what?" Leo asked.

"Psycho?" Mikey asked.

Gorf shook his head.

"Den spit it out," Raph commanded.

Gorf looked like he was trying to but he couldn't catch his breath. Finally after a few moments he took a big breath and exclaimed "_Scientists!_"

"What do you mean scientists?" Don asked.

"Scien… tist… up on… streets… from… God I can't breathe," he gasped falling over to lie on his back.

"Perhaps we should give him time to calm down and catch his breath," Splinter suggested.

A minute later Gorf was still breathing hard but could at least talk. "I saw… a scientist up top, he was from the labs, I know it!"

"What!?" Alex and Razor exclaimed.

Don shook his head. "But that's impossible. The labs were completely destroyed, we were all there. We all heard the explosions and everything."

"I agree with Donnie," Alex said.

"Maybe you were just seeing things," Leo said.

Gorf shook his fists up and down like a toddler not getting his way. "I know what I saw!" he yelled. "If you had spent twenty consecutive years inside that electronic hell you would know one of the devils when you saw him, dammit!" Immediately after the exclamation Gorf slapped his hands over his mouth, looking just as taken aback as everyone else did about the outburst.

Mikey slowly raised a hand. "I believe you."

"Okay, so say you _did _see a scientist," Leo said slowly.

"Which one?" Razor quickly asked.

Gorf removed his hands, looking at his feet as he thought. "I… I can't remember his name, but I know he worked in DNA fusions."

"Crap," Alex said and received a warning glare from Splinter. "Oh, sorry."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Mikey asked.

"'DNA fusions' is the earliest department for us," Alex said. "They fuse the DNA of animals with humans to create what we are."

"And if one from that department is still alive then…" Razor started.

"Then the labs can be reconstructed," Don finished with a dreading realization.

"Th-that's not all," Gorf said.

"There's more?" Razor groaned.

"Well that was the bed news."

"S'there good news?" Raph asked.

Gorf grimly shook his head. "The worst news is that… uh- I think he has a sample of Mike's DNA."

"How?" Leo asked.

Gorf scratched his head, not liking to be the bearer of bad news. "Well I saw him at the court, where Mike was shot. So naturally he left some blood behind, and the scientist was posing as a police officer so it was really easy for him to get a sample without suspicion."

"Great," Raph huffed "the last thing we need is a Mikey clone."

Alex shook her head, the three experiments sharing the same look of growing sickness. "No, you gotta know how these guys think. They can get a DNA sample from any ol' place for cloning."

Razor stood up from the couch and started walking back and forth behind it. "These bast- uh buttheads," he quickly changed the word looking at Splinter. "Are the kind that examine. No doubt that they have identified the bonds between everyone in contact with Mike when we were all at the labs. And anyone could guess that Mike isn't the type of guy to live by himself."

"So…" Raph said impatient for where this was going.

"So," Razor said, kicking the back of the couch. "With DNA trackers not uncommon, Mikey might as well be a homing beacon."

...--... ...--... ...--... ...--... ...--... ...--... ...--...

Dev stared at the gun in his hands as he sat on the edge of the hospital bed, his right leg going into a muscle spasm for no reason and started hopping up and down. It had taken thirty minutes for the doctors to allow him to have his laser gun. Within those thirty minutes he had flat out refused to come back inside the window until they gave it to him, threatened to jump to his obvious death four times, and promised not to use it a million times.

Since his stunt of somehow getting out of the window to sit on the outside ledge, he was now under constant 24/7 watch. There was to be a person inside his room at all times with him, and the window was to remain firmly locked with a key. They couldn't give him a shirt since it wouldn't fit around his splinted wing so he was stuck with wrapping a blanket around his shoulders, over a folded wing, though it still left half his back bare.

He had talked to Doc over the internet a while ago. During that time he was told he was so cold because of all the lost blood and it was taking some time for his body to heat itself back up without it. Also during the time of Doc on the computer the doctors went into a heated discussion with the girl. It was decided it would be best if they got someone to donate blood. The closest winged experiment that qualified for donation was Double D. After he was notified it was said he wouldn't get to the hospital until tomorrow.

When Dev finally got his computer back from the doctors he told Doc how it all happened. The robot attack was all over the news, though it wasn't revealed who they attacked, Dev thankful for the privacy. The only thing he could do at the moment was to go through all the experiments online and warn them about the robots. Some of them had laughed at him for being exposed, especially the ones with non-feathered wings, but the point got across all the same.

Now he had nothing to do and his good wing was itching to get into the sky. Feel the wind in his feathers. See the world stretched out below him. Watch cars race along roads like motor powered bugs. See life from a bird's view. The freedom of flying in open skies…

He started looking at the lock on the window, knowing how easy it would be to blast through the glass, the person that was 'watching' him was in the bathroom... His thoughts were interrupted by a knock on the door.

Instead of giving a worded answer he just let out a loud moan of boredom to say he was awake. The door opened and Wesley walked in, accompanied by half the baseball team. They all jumped seeing Dev aim his gun at the doorway.

"What? You think I'm going to actually shoot it?" Dev asked dryly as he lowered the weapon into his lap and looked down at it again. Playing with it he wound up pointing the barrel at his own head.

"Can you?" one of them asked.

"What? Use it?" Dev asked giving them a sideways glance. Without looking down he pulled the trigger. A single blue laser blasted out from the gun, the shot angled just slightly so that it missed Dev's ear and burned a hole in the ceiling tiles. "Nope."

The intern that was watching him walked out of the bathroom just in time to see the laser miss the teen's head. "You're not supposed to shoot that!" he exclaimed.

"You're right, I'm not," Dev sighed and lifted the gun, aiming it at the young man's chest. He couldn't be more than twenty-four, he was still younger then the restless experiment. "You gonna tell on me? Force the gun out of my hand with my finger on the trigger?"

No one in the room moved. All of them looked nervous.

Dev huffed. "You've probably never even been at gunpoint." He lowered the weapon and stood up, setting the gun on top of his closed laptop. "I'll tell you what. I've been locked inside this room seventy-two hours straight, and counting. Get whoever's in charge to let me out - at least for a couple hours a day - and I promise not to have target practice."

...--... ...--... ...--... ...--... ...--... ...--... ...--...

A single question was swirling inside everyone's mind: _What do we do with Mike? _They couldn't kick the youngest out to get caught by the scientists. They couldn't keep him in the lair for fear of their home getting found and then destroyed.

While the others pondered about what to do before time ran out, Mikey sat curled on his bed feeling like a problem. Like one big, living, breathing problem. It had passed through his mind a few times to just go ahead and leave for the protection of his family. He was the one that was being hunted, so maybe he could be the only one to get caught. But as these thoughts passed through his mind he couldn't help remember what the labs were like. That white room he was held in for who knew how long. What if felt like to be changed into a human body, the confusion and pains in the beginning as his body morphed. The electric net from when he was escaping with everyone else in the end. Oh yeah, he couldn't forget about the net.

So he didn't _want _to go back to those scientists, especially not alone, but he couldn't stay and get everyone else caught with him.

Mikey held his head in his hands with a groan. _Oh what do I do?_

It had taken an hour for someone to finally think up a decent plan. "He could stay with me," Gorf piped up.

"But wouldn't that just mean both of you get caught?" Razor asked skeptically.

"Nonecessarily…" Gorf mumbled bummed at his plan getting shot down.

"Well…" Leo said more to himself. "Maybe we could all go, just to see what's after us. We could destroy what's being used to track Mike and come back here, leaving the lair hidden. But that would mean you would have to give up your home," he told Gorf.

The frog boy shrugged. "My place is disposable, uh, no offense Alex. It _is _your old place after all."

"Dock thirteen was a rundown warehouse," Alex said nonchalantly. "I'm surprised it hasn't been scheduled for demolition by now."

After the plan was relayed to Master Splinter, and the aging father reluctantly nodding and telling them to be careful, Gorf gleefully led the way. He had never had anyone stay the night with him before. As they ran through the sewers, and eventually the allies, Mikey stayed close to Raph. So close that the older brother was constantly pushing him away.

When they reached the docks Gorf went to the warehouse with a big 13 over the closed double doors. Feeling along the metal where the two doors met he found a small hatch and pulled a tiny door out. Behind the door was a keypad along with a line of six, lettered keys. He typed in a series of numbers on the pad, and then pressed only four of the six keys, spelling out 'HOME'. The two passwords were accepted and the doors opened by themselves to allow passage.

The group walked into the dark building and Gorf hurried to the side to hit a lever that turned on the lights, and another lever that closed the doors behind them.

Dim, scattered, naked bulbs buzzed into life overhead to reveal what their friend called home. The windows were boarded shut and the roof had been fixed – or at least patched to keep the rain out. Bits and pieces of machinery were scattered everywhere across the floor. It looked like the boy had dragged in half a junkyard and stuffed it into the building. A work station was set up against one of the walls, this also covered in dissected machinery. A power generator hummed to itself in a corner, a homemade computer system sitting beside it waiting to be turned on. In the very back of the room it looked like a living space was crammed in. A beat up old couch and some patched car seats sitting in front of a repaired TV set (Don could imagine a homemade satellite dish sitting on the roof). A mattress sat on a rusting bed frame. A refrigerator hummed off to the side, along with a salvaged electric stove. Two cabinets sat beside the stove probably holding food, or utensils. An old card table sat in front of the 'kitchen area' with mix matched seats.

"Uh, Gorf," Razor asked as they stood almost in awe at what the boy had managed by himself. None of them had ever thought to visit Gorf at his place, the boy always seemed to find his way to the lair when he wanted to be with friends (whether they wanted him there or not). "How many times have you been to the dump?"

"More times than you can imagine," Gorf said. "And sorry about my projects everywhere," he apologized, pushing what looked like a miniature tank to the side to allow easier crossing of the room. "I rarely have- actually I _never _have company, hehe."

"Have you… done all this by yourself?" Don asked.

"By 'done' I'm guessing you mean make, build, repair, create – some of those are probably the same thing – but yes," Gorf nodded with a smile. "I'm a technician. I as built to build… and eat bugs. It's amazing how many spiders find their way in here. The flies they catch are great. Spiders themselves are okay, but I'm not a fan for the hair. But their webs… now that's gross."

"The _webs _are gross…" Mikey muttered. The thought of living on insects had always made him a little queasy.

"Sorry if you have to lose all this," Don said.

"Nah, this is more of a factory then a home," Gorf said shaking his head. "But what you guys have… The lair's a whole lot more valuable than this electrical trash heap."

Alex looked around. She didn't want to say it, but Gorf was right, the place was a trash heap. "What's up stairs?" she asked curiously.

Gorf glanced up to where the railed ledge stuck out from the wall, bordering the upper part of the large room. "Storage mostly. Not enough room to put anything else up there."

There was one thing bothering Alex as she examined what Gorf had done with the place. "Uh, this might just be me, but… is this room smaller?"

"More than likely," Gorf said with a confirming nod. "I had to put new walls up to hide the… hide the… hide… the…" his voice trailed off as his eyes started to follow a rather large moth that had slipped inside to play with one of the light bulbs. It looked like the boy had slipped into a trance as he followed the insect's every movement.

"Oh God kid, not in fronta-" Raph tried to say as he realized what was on Gorf's mind. But it was too late. With a flash of his long tongue the moth's wings twitched bent and dying between the frog's lips. "Us…" Raph uselessly finished as Gorf pulled the rest of the bug in his mouth, bit down, and swallowed, licking his lips afterward.

It wasn't until after he suppressed a burp did Gorf notice the looks of disgust on his friends' faces. "Oh, sorry," he said sheepishly. "I've been trying not to do it in front of people, but you have to eat 'em when you see 'em, especially during the winter. Now what was I saying?" he muttered to himself as he went to the 'living space' of the warehouse. "Oh yeah, I had to put up some new walls to hide the machinery so nothing got caught in the gears."

Beside the bed was a control panel with numerous buttons and levers sticking out of the wall. With a pull of one lever a screen twisted around from the wall and lowered down to eye sight. It showed a number of security cameras staring at the perimeter of the building. Flipping a switch on the panel a green light turned on.

"What's that?" Don asked, happy to know another inventor.

"Security system," Gorf said. "I don't care how many times they come to 'hang out and play' I'm not sharing with a bunch of Purple Dragons. Now then," he pulled another lever and an entire section of the wall flipped over to reveal a rack of fire arms. "If Alex can remember how to shoot a gun these might come in use, because I have no idea what's coming after Mike."

Mikey looked nervously at the door, his comic-cartoon fueled imagination kicking into overdrive. He could see practically anything imaginable and beyond coming through those doors.

"But whatever it is," Gorf continued "it's not getting in without a fight."

* * *

Gorf's a busy little expirement when he's not annoying/disgusting his friends, don't ya think? And Dev's getting a bit touchy from his confinment inside the hospital. Dev: Hey, I didn't ask for anyone's help!

...gah, I hate it when my mind goes blank like this! I swear last night I knew what I wanted to say, and now I can't think of it! Though I gotta wrap this up pretty quick sense I'm going to a concert with my sister in a few hours. Country Stampede, the place is going to be muddy with the rain we've had lately, but I got hiking boots that can take it. And I'm a kid that's not afraid of getting dirty. So yeah, I'm gonna go. Enjoy the chapter until I get the next one up, and I'll leave you guys to wallow in the state of knowing I'm gonna do something to the characters, but not knowing what... (evil smirk)

Oh and, once again, Puldoh, ChibiLover123: you guys rock for actually reviewing. I feel appreciated for my writing.

And, as always... REVIEW! please?


	5. Metal Flock

**Chapter Four**

**Metal Flock**

It wasn't until around three in the morning that the teen got up from his pallet on the floor. He had waited for hours and then some before he decided everyone was asleep. It had taken forever as Gorf rummaged through his storage for blankets. Then when everyone was situated on the couch, car seats, bed and floor he had waited.

Now the body carefully went to the front of the room, feeling his way around Gorf's 'projects', staying perfectly quiet as he moved for the doors. Or, he _would _have been quiet if he hadn't kicked over the bucket of loose nuts and bolts.

"Mike…?" Don's tired voice said through the darkness after the small crash of small pieces of metal skidded across the floor.

"Uh- just… going to the bathroom," Michelangelo whispered over his shoulder. He waited for the sound of his brother's soft breathing to return before he continued forward, feeling along the way with his feet, guilt filled determination moving him forward.

When he finally reached the other side of the big room he felt along the wall for the crease where the double doors met in the middle. With more effort than he first thought, Mike pushed the doors apart, forming a crack just big enough for him to squeeze through.

Looking around nervously he pushed the door closed and quickly started around the building. He had just walked away from the wall to run into the alleyways when he heard the scuttling of feet behind him. Mikey whipped around, reaching for his nunchucks that he literally kept at his sides, inside the band of his pants. His eyes darted over shadows, straining to make out the dark, vague shapes, searching for something that could breathe.

Slowly he started to step backwards. Sharply turning back around, he was about to dart into the shadowy alley ahead of him and almost ran into a solid that wasn't there a second ago. With a small squeak of surprise Mikey stumbled backwards, tripped and fell over, hitting a stack of crates on impact with the ground. The crates wobbled for a second before tumbling down on top of him in a mix of splinters and dirt.

A pair of hands lifted the broken bottom of a box off of the teen's head. "Seriously, the _bathroom_?"

"Leo?" Mikey said with relief as the three fingered hand helped him to his feet. "Man, do you ever sleep?"

"Mike, what are you doing?" Leo asked.

Mikey looked down at his feet, almost embarrassed. "Uh… well… I don't want you guys to get kidnapped because I'm around, so…"

Leo sighed, putting a hand on his sibling's shoulder as he led him back to the warehouse's doors. "Are you trying to put me out of a job? It's _my_ role to protect the family. You're just the one that's there to lighten the mood."

"Yeah, but-"

"No Mike," Leo cut across him. "We're brothers, family - and family sticks together, no matter what, thick or thin, good or bad."

"Hey, I don't wanna get married here," Mikey said with a smile.

Leo smiled too as he playfully pushed on his brother's head. "Come on," he said as he started to slip into the opening he had left in the doors when he walked out after Mike.

Mikey waited for his turn to go inside when he felt a sudden, strange wind. It hadn't hit him sideways like wind was supposed to, but from above. He looked up curiously to find six red dots sitting on the top of the building.

"What the…?" was all he could get out before the lights inside the warehouse suddenly came on by themselves, followed by surprised exclamations. Spotlights flared on around the outside of the building. Inside the lights Mikey suddenly found what the red dots above were and wished he was back inside.

Perched on the edge of the roof were three huge, mechanical birds. The dots were their red glowing eyes. The beaks and talons were sharp, and there were three holes in the chest of each one. If the robots' size wasn't enough to make the boy nervous there was the fact that all three of them seemed to be _staring at him_.

As Mikey stared up at them and them at him, the doors to the warehouse opened. Alex was the first one to appear holding one of the guns, a second one in her pocket. She aimed the gun and shot a series of blue lasers.

Mikey ducked holding his head at the sight of the colored flashes coming towards him. "What was that for?!" he exclaimed when he straightened up.

"Look behind you!" Alex said. Mike did and saw the crumpled form of a robot bird that had snuck up on him from the ground. "And pay more attention!"

Leo, Raph, Don, Gorf, and Razor had looked at what Mikey had been looking at when they came outside.

"What the shell are those things?" Leo asked.

"We've never seen them before," Gorf said.

The robots seemed to look down at them and, without moving, red lasers shot out from the holes in their chests. The group on the ground jumped out of the way.

"Lasers," Razor said as he jumped to his feet after tripping in his hurry to dodge. "Yep, from the scientists alright, I think we're looking at the retrieval squad."

"Well if they want something let's give 'it' to 'em," Raph said.

Alex lifted up the gun and tried to shoot but the birds dodged by jumping into the air. "Damn, I'm out of practice and they're fast."

When the birds landed back on the roof one of them looked down and a red light shot down from its eyes. It passed over them – not harming but scanning. When the light disappeared the bird lifted its head to the sky and opened its beak.

Suddenly Razor covered his ears as he stumbled to stay standing with a sound of pain.

"What's wrong?" Leo asked.

"Sound… too… loud," Razor strained.

"It must be too high pitched for us to hear," Don said.

"What's it for?" Alex asked, barely able to hear a high faint tone in her ears.

"I'd guess a signal," Don said.

"But for what?" Gorf wondered aloud.

"Backup," Raph grumbled looking up, past the three robots a cloud of red dots was hovering over the rooftops.

"A whole flock…" Gorf muttered, feeling the growing film between his fingers. The predators were getting closer. The birds weren't as ruthless as the bugs had been. These robots waited for a move, where the old robot bugs swarmed in whenever there was a chance. _And personally I don't want to see how these things fight…_ "Don," he said while running back into the warehouse. "Come here, I need your help."

With a last glance at the approaching robots Don hurried into the building and watched as Gorf jumped and climbed over the half made machines looking for one specific weapon. After a short moment he pushed out the mini tank he had moved before they went to sleep.

"There're too many to fight," Gorf said quickly, pulling a box of tools from the workstation. "And if I'm right, this should be able to take care of 'em. But I could never get the circuits to align."

"Tell me what you've done," Don said.

...--...

"Come and get us, I dare ya!" Razor yelled up at the birds. Raph and Leo had drawn their weapons, Alex's tail blades lightly scraped the ground as they swung by her ankles while she held both guns in her hands, Mikey had drawn his nunchucks as well though something in his gut told him not to fight. It could have been the fact that his entire body was one big target to whoever had sent these robots.

One of the birds opened up its chest to reveal a larger hole in place of the three. With a small boom a net shot out; opening wide to close them all in.

"Heads up!" Mikey exclaimed as they jumped out of the way.

"Alex, can't you knock those things down here?" Razor asked.

"Yeah, I wanna show 'em what happens when they try ta mess wit' us," Raph said.

"If I tear a wing I'm blaming you guys," Alex said before lifting off with a hard down beat. The robots watched her movements without moving themselves. When she lifted above the rooftop they still hadn't moved. _What's with these things? _she thought. _They weren't ready for things that would fight back? Oh well, all the easier for us… _Diving down she landed on the roof of the building behind the birds. With a few swift movements she kicked the birds over the edge. "Look out below!" she called as the metal bodies plummeted to the ground.

That's when the real fighting began.

Behind the girl there was the sound of flapping. Alex turned around to see the rest of the flock of robots. A few of them open fired. It was all she could do to fold her wings tightly and dodge the bright shots of light. But the lasers were just a cover up for the net that came out of nowhere and wrapped around her, the force knocking her back and off the roof.

The two-story-fall was broken by a green body - it was only the second time in her life that she used Raphael's shell as a landing pad.

"Dammit Alex!"

"I can't help it!" the girl exclaimed. It was practically all she could do to roll off him and continue to struggle against the net. She would have used the sharpness of her tail to cut through the netting if it wasn't for the fact she was sitting on the blade. "Assistance would be appreciated here!"

Leo stepped forward to cut through the net when the entire flocked landed on top of them at once.

Razor jumped forward to sink his teeth into a steel neck when he heard something behind him. He ducked and jumped to the side but didn't completely dodge and ended up with something clamping around his shirt and lifting up. As his feet left the ground he worked on slipping out of his shirt. About fifteen feet off the ground his head left the neck hole and he realized it wasn't going to be a pretty landing.

But before he met the concrete knives dug into his lower calf and he hung upside down in the air. "Little help here!" he called out. But as he looked down he saw the battle field in an unsettling bird's eye view. Alex was still stuck in the net, Leo and Raph were fending off robot after robot, and Mikey was doing pretty good himself for fighting wood against steel but he was being pushed back onto the dock. Soon he'd run out of room to step.

"Leo!" he yelled down, watching with a sick stomach as the ground got farther and farther away. "Throw me the gun!" He pointed to the handheld device though the turtle could see the gun on the ground without assistance.

Leo picked the weapon up and jumped back from an attack as he straightened. Taking quick aim he threw the gun up to Razor.

The shark boy fumbled with it for a moment. When he finally got a grip on it he pointed it up at his leg and shot past his foot. The lasers shot through the exterior of the robot, going up through the neck and frying the brain as the beams of light continued out through the head.

When he was let go Razor flailed his arms like that would help him as he started falling, sure to land on his head. _Fish ain't supposed to be this high!_ "Head's up!" he yelled hoping someone would catch him before he splattered on the unforgiving ground.

Someone did catch him - or they did if you called being used as a pillow for a crash landing 'catching someone'. "What, do I look like a freak'n target?!" Raph exclaimed angrily from underneath Razor's body.

"It must be your red bandana, bro," Leo said. He would have been chuckling if it wasn't for the robots either trying to capture him or shoot holes in him, or some odd mix of both.

When Razor got up he dodged a rush of talons and red lasers as he went to Alex's side and bit through the net.

"Finally, thanks," she said as she threw the metallic rope off and beheaded one of the robots. When suddenly there was a yell of pain.

Out at the edge of the thirteenth dock Mikey had run out of the planks to stand on. Four birds were blocking his way back to land, and one of them had shot a long cord out. It had happened so fast he didn't know what was going on until the cord was attached to his chest. Before he could pull it off a shot of electricity went through his shirt and spread throughout his body causing the hurtful exclamation. The electrocution put him on the edge of consciousness and he fell back with a splash, the cord snapping when pulled taught.

"Mike!" his brothers exclaimed but they couldn't get to their sibling's aid. Every time they knocked one robot down three more seemed to appear.

"I got him," Razor said as he bit through the robot in front of him and jumped around the next one. Diving into the river he practically slid through water and pulled down to catch the sinking body. Kicking back to the surface he pulled Mike's head above the water. "You okay?"

Mikey put a hand to where the electricity had entered him. "First I'm shot and then electrocuted. Do I have a 'hurt me' sign on my back?"

"Yeah well Raph thinks he looks like a target," Razor said. "Duck!" he suddenly exclaimed and shoved Mike back under, quickly following at seeing a pair of birds that had lifted up overhead and started to dive for them.

Razor pulled Mikey underneath the dock as the birds dove underwater. Keeping his attention on the birds he hadn't noticed the pair of red lights that turned on behind him. Luckily though Mike was looking that way and pushed back on the water, pointing. Razor turned around just in time to quickly drop down as a mechanical shark shot forward with open jaws trying to catch him around the middle.

_So not right! _Razor exclaimed in his mind as he grabbed Mikey and took them to the surface. As Mike climbed onto the shore he turned to help Razor up. Razor took his hand when he was jerked down and gave a cry of pain. Redness appeared among the dark water as the wet, grey hand slipped out of the wet, white one.

"Razor!" Mikey exclaimed, but before he could do anything to help his friend he was once again swarmed by the birds. With a growl of annoyance he fought with them. Soaked nunchucks blurs. As he dodged when one of the robots that had replaced a fallen machine, his foot hit something on the ground. Looking down he snatched up the second gun that Alex had dropped.

True he had never used a gun before, and it usually wasn't like him to consider using one, but it was apparent lasers worked better than short, wooden poles. Wrapping his hands around the handle he pulled the trigger. A shockwave was sent up his arms so he braced himself for the next couple pulls.

_Oh yeah, a lot easier… _he thought, though he did feel bad about it, as the lasers easily put the birds down and they stayed down. Or the ones he hit at least, his aim was somewhat off with the firearm.

"How many of these things are there?" Raph growled as he stabbed yet _another _robot.

"Too many would be my guess," Alex said as she beheaded still another robot. It never ended. When one robotic bird went down another popped up.

"I know why!" Leo exclaimed as he watched the bird he had just stabbed through the head seem to repair itself. "They're regenerating somehow."

"We've been fighting the same damn things the whole time?!" Raph exclaimed with a mix of anger and disbelief.

"God damn it," Alex grumbled not sure how much longer she could keep it up. One of her wings already had a hole in the flap of skin from when a laser had gone through it.

"Guys, lead 'em in here!" Gorf's voice called from the warehouse. Inside the building Don had just plugged in the last cable and the mini-tank hummed into life. Gorf, who was sitting on top of the large weapon, aimed it with a remote control. After pointing the large barrel at the center of the wide doorway he had called out.

Leo, Alex, Mike and Raph started directing their movements into the building. When all the robots were at least inside the doorway and within range Gorf thrust his hand forward, pointing at the targets exclaiming "Let 'er rip!"

Holding back an eye roll with a small smirk Don hit the switch.

A large energy beam erupted from the front of the tank, completely enveloping the robot birds in the bright light. But as the beam destroyed their enemy Newton's Third Law of Motion came into play and the weapon - which wasn't bolted to the floor and still on wheels - went flying backwards until it crashed into the frog's projects, and stopped in a jumble of twisted metal.

When the energy beam disappeared there was nothing left of the robots except for a few scorch marks on the floor, and like the robots, there was no sign of Gorf or Razor.

"Where's Razor?" Alex asked looking around.

Mikey suddenly remembered the shark-boy and went running out of the room. He stopped as he hit the planks of the dock. Looking into the water he couldn't see any movement underneath, though he felt slightly sick as he noticed the red tint in the murky waters. Then suddenly a grey hand shot up from the water and grabbed the edge of the dock. Its match joined it and the body heaved itself up onto the wood.

Mike went over to him, crouching down. "Are you okay?"

Instead of answering verbally Razor clenched his teeth and lifted up his left leg that had been hanging over the edge of the pier. Where the calf turned into the ankle was bloody from where the robot shark had bit him and dragged him under the water, the robot that was now sinking to the bottom of the riverbed with a chunk missing from its head.

"Come on," Mikey said, helping the boy into a sitting position and then practically lifting him to his good foot. They got a few steps with Razor leaning on Mikey, though he was trying to walk on his own, when Razor suddenly collapsed. From the ground Razor rubbed his hurt leg, and then started patting below the knee with a nauseous look.

"Mike," he said. "I can't feel my leg!"

...--...

When Mikey left Don started looking around, "Where's Gorf?"

The remaining four in the room looked around too - the frog boy wasn't with them.

When it struck him Don quickly went to the totaled tank. Leo, Raph and Alex followed him with the same idea. They remembered seeing Gorf on top of the weapon, but didn't remember seeing him ever getting off it.

When they pulled at the torn, broken, rusted chunks of metal that were left of the projects that had been smashed together they found a green body mixed among the scraps. He was slimy, bruised, cut, bleeding…

"Gorf?" Alex said shaking his damp shoulder. "Come on, speak to us."

…and not responding.

* * *

And there I go again hurting my own characters. I have really got to stop doing that before I don't have any left. But oh well. Kind of ironic for Razor: a shark that bites electronics getting bit by an electronic shark.

And there goes my mind goes blank, once again. Um... oh yeah. I don't know if this should even go in my TMNT fanfiction, but I'm thinking about writing a fan story for Harry Potter. The whole idea came from the same place this whole story-world came from: a weird dream. I'm serious too, Alex was first born in the TMNT world becuase of a dream I had. Don't know why I was dreaming about TMNT, but I did. Oh well, just thought you guys should know for some odd reason. What do you think? For you HP fans at least.

And last, but not least: REVIEW! please?


	6. Can't Stand Still

**Chapter Five**

**Can't Stand Still**

"Mmmmmgh…" Razor groaned as he sat on the broken, numerously patched couch. He was groaning not because he was in pain, he was groaning because he _didn't _have pain. The entire leg had gone numb. While he sat sideways with his hurt leg out forward he watched as Don bandaged his calf and ankle.

It was still dark outside. They had found how to turn the spotlights around dock thirteen off and closed the large double doors after the robotic battle. Luckily none of the living space furniture had been harmed when the mini tank was thrown backwards by its own energy beam, causing the creator of the weapon to be injured - and his friends hoped it was nothing but injury.

At the moment Gorf was laying on his bed wrapped in most of the bandages Alex could find in the hundreds of boxes and creates on the second level of the building. The boy hadn't moved since they put him on the rusted frame and musty mattress. None of them had seen how badly he had been hurt when the crash first happened but Don was able to identify at least two broken ribs among the numerous cuts. They had cleaned him up as well as they could with what first aid Alex could salvage from the messy storage, hoping to fight infection against all the rust.

Mikey sat the foot of the bed watching Razor being bandaged. He couldn't help but feel guilty for his friend's injuries. It was _his _DNA that was used to track them down, _he _was the one they had found and everyone else was identified after him.

Raph and Leo were standing guard at the front of the building in case any more robots felt the need for a second wave of attack. Even with Gorf's security system they secretly just wanted to be doing something instead of sitting around feeling useless.

Alex had become curious and went to the kitchen area. Opening the fridge she found bottles of water, a quarter gallon of milk, a hunk of blue fuzz that could have been cheese at one time, a bottle of ketchup and some other odd things that couldn't actually make a real meal. Other than that the shelves were bare. Going to a cabinet she jumped back in surprise as at least twelve hairy, eight-legged creatures ranging from all sizes scuttled out in all directions. Looking inside the cabinet she found a forest of spider webs. It was amazing that anything could move in there. Looking closer she found numerous white sacks stuck to the walls and hanging from the ceiling of the space: egg sacks.

_Gorf's mortal enemy: the exterminator. _With a shiver of revulsion Alex closed the cabinet door. Not sure if she should even consider the next one she looked at the wooden door hanging on mix-matched hinges. Curiosity got the better of her as she saw a glow coming out from the cracks of the cupboard. Opening this space she was met with a less disgusting sight: glass cases and jars of insects. A heat lamp hung over the small cases that inhabited numerous different bugs from butterflies to moths, caterpillars to ladybugs to grasshoppers. The insects were right at home too with habitats set inside the jars that would be most comfortable for them, which explained the heat lamp.

"He's… keeping… _bugs_?" Alex had a hard time saying it. Yes she knew that insects were practically the only thing Gorf ever ate unless it was a special occasion, but to go as far as taking care of the things was a little surprising, if not a little weird, even for a guy with a five foot tongue.

One jar caught her interest. It was covered by a cloth. She picked the jar up and removed the cloth to see a small swarm of lightning bugs. Not as gross as the spiders, Alex stared at the bugs as they blinked on and off inside the confines of the glass.

While behind her, across the room, beside the humming power generator a tiny light turned on. The computer screen flashed, blackened, and a logo faded into view. After a moment the logo disappeared and the screen brightened to a blue screen asking for a password. A password typed itself in as if ghost fingers were silently playing with the keyboard. The password was accepted and the screen changed to the desktop; a picture that was taken at Christmas, a group photo of the mutants and experiments, the Christmas tree visible in the background. The internet opened of its own accord, changed to an e-mail site, logged on with the username , and went to the inbox. From there a red light sitting on top of the computer monitor flashed and a loud _PING! _sounded.

The completely unexpected noise made Alex drop the jar of lightning bugs, where it shattered on the ground. "Oops…" The insects buzzed around drunkenly in the sudden freedom.

By the bed a green nose twitched, a mouth slowly twisted. Blue-grey eyes cracked open and lazily looked around. The lightning bugs flew into his vision, looking for a way out. When there was a good clump together there was a flash of pink and a loud swallow. Gorf closed his eyes with a small smile and rolled over to continue sleep.

There was another loud _PING!_ from the computer. Don, Razor and Alex looked around to find the source of the sound. When the third and forth ping sounded Gorf sat up with a moan. "E-mail recognized," he groaned in annoyance like someone getting aggravated at an alarm clock.

Across the room the light switched off at his voice.

Gorf rubbed his eyes and looked around. "What happened?" he asked. "I remember a bright light and… not much else. Ng, and my chest area hurts."

"Basically, you were blown off the laser cannon and made a collision course with some other machines with your head," Don said, finishing Razor's leg. "And I'm pretty sure a few of your ribs are broken."

"So… it worked?" Gorf asked.

"Well, yeah but the force of the cannon was greater than the mass of the machine," Don said.

"Yes, but it worked."

"But the cannon and a few other projects were totaled in the collision course."

"But it worked."

"_Yes_ Gorf," Don sighed. "It worked."

Gorf smiled happily despite the throbbing pain coursing through his body.

"You okay?" Mikey asked.

Gorf rubbed his neck. "I think so," he mumbled and pushed his legs over the edge of the bed.

"You shouldn't be standing," Don said, getting to his feet.

Either Gorf blacked out for a second, or he was just ignoring the warning because he stood up anyway. He stumbled a moment, almost falling backwards, but he caught his balance and took a few labored steps forward.

"Gorf," Alex said walking forward. "What are you doing?"

"Important… e-mail," Gorf muttered, trying to make it to the computer that was way on the other side of the room, past the obstacles of machines.

"You might as well have been in a car crash without any seatbelts or airbags," Don said he and Alex stepped in Gorf's way. The boy took a single step to push past them, stumbled and fell into their unready arms. "I'm okay…" he said into Don's plastron.

"You can't move your legs, can you?" Alex asked.

"Maybe."

Razor slapped a hand over his face.

...--... ...--... ...--... ...--... ...--... ...--... ...--...

_I feel like a thief… Awesome._

Being careful to keep the sound of snoring constant behind him the dark shadow moved towards the bathroom. Flipped the light on and closed the door. Then, sliding to the door, he listened out into the hall for life. When silence remained immanent in the hall he eased the door open. Holding back he looked out.

The hall was empty.

A smile pulled on the shadow's lips as a gun rose up from his belt loop. With a single shot the annoyingly buzzing light in the ceiling died.

Sliding between the crack of the door and doorway, being careful of the injury that had him sneaking along in the first place, the figure rose the gun and shot the closest lights to his left and right surrendering the section of the hall to darkness. Glancing from side to side he started off down the hall at a run, left hand raised with the gun, shooting out every light he passes under, leaving a trail of darkness behind him.

At the end of the hall was an elevator and stair well. In all sense, he took the stairs.

Each time a bare foot hit the cold ground it sent a jolt up his spine and at the broken wing, which, in turn, sent a jolt of pain to his mind. But he didn't care as he rounded up the square spiral until he hit the roof five stories up.

Bursting through the door Dev was met by the cool night air. He wrapped the blanket that he had brought around his shoulders as best he could and walked along the rough cement to the edge of the roof.

At the edge he sat down and breathed in the night.

It had only been a few days of complete confinement indoors and it was killing his flying side. The open air was like a drug - once you get a taste of the skies there no coming down without wanting to get back up.

Doc had said he'd heal in three weeks at the most, but that was a long time to be earthbound. And even when he was healed he couldn't do any of the tricks fliers were keen to do with his wing still weakened.

He shook his head, looking out over the dark tree line. "If I ever get my hands on the ones that grounded me…"

...--... ...--... ...--... ...--... ...--... ...--... ...--...

Leonardo sighed as he sat perched on the warehouse roof. It had been an hour since they found Gorf unconscious under what was left of the smashed machines and Razor with a bitten leg. He and Raph had 'stayed watch' outside but he was pretty sure nothing was going to come for a second attack, tonight at least. Leo didn't know why he was still out here as the minutes melted together. What he did know was that the only reason Raph was still outside was because he was.

And he was right. According to Raph _If Mr. Big-Protecting-Leader can stay out here so can I… _

Then, in the quiet of a night in New York City, they heard something. It didn't necessarily surprise them… yet.

The sound came from Raph's side of the building. Leo silently came to look with his brother.

The sounds were of something moving, that was obvious as crashing crates filled the air. Whatever it was was getting closer. The two instinctively reached for their weapons, ready for anything. But they lowered their hands when they saw what was making the sounds.

It rounded the corner of a warehouse two buildings away and came tripping and stumbling in the mutants' direction. The figure was small as it came towards them. Not far behind the figure was, strangely enough, one of the robots that Raph and Leo had fought a little over an hour ago.

Then, barely out of reach of Gorf's security system the figure tripped, the bird not far behind.

_Another experiment? _"Come on," Leo said and jumped off the roof. Raph followed.

Two against one was a lot easier than earlier that night. Instead of just slicing it like what normally would have happen, Leo sliced the head off, and Raph crudely gutted it.

"Are you okay?" Leo asked, crouching down.

Behind them the door of dock thirteen opened and Alex walked out hugging her arms. She had come outside to find a place to be alone. _Razor and Gorf are hurt, if one scientist is still alive then there could be more, we have tougher robots on our backs… I thought we were free. Everything was going great there for a while. God… _she sighed. _Are we not allowed to just be happy?_

A sound to her left made her look. Seeing a couple of dark figures made her run back inside. She grabbed a long metal flashlight from the workbench and went back out. Silently she crept towards the figures, trying to keep the element of surprise for the moment. It wasn't until she was up close did she recognize the shape and form of the closest body.

"Leo?"

She flipped on the flashlight, but it was a bad mistake. The new body was caught within the light and it turned out to be a little kid, about the size of Psych. He had red hair that was so messy it hade brushes diving for cover, and clothes that had seen better days. An odd scar ran from above his right eye, slashed diagonally over his nose and stopped on his left cheek. His dark green eyes widened at seeing what Leo was and he scrambled to his feet. The boy turned to run back where he had come from and almost ran into Raph. With a cry of surprise he stumbled back and fell down.

He scrambled back in fear at seeing Raph's sias still in his hands. But then he must have remembered about Leo behind him and just curled up on the ground, holding his head bent down between his knees, body shaking.

The three still standing looked at each other.

Alex carefully walked forward and bent down. "Hey, its okay," she said softly, putting a hand on his quaking shoulder. But at her touch the boy cried out and tried to push her away, and then they disappeared.

"What the shell?" Raph said as he and Leo looked around. The two were right there. Then suddenly they were gone. No flash, no smoke, no sound; just _gone._

"Look!" Leo said pointing up. A beam of light had appeared in midair twenty feet above them - the flashlight.

There was another cry of surprise and the light disappeared. Moments later it reappeared out over the river. There was a splash and the light disappeared. The sound of breaking creates came from beside one of the buildings. Then the light appeared on top one of the warehouses. It was gone in a split second and Raph spotted it out on one of the piers. As soon as he pointed it out it was gone once again and reappeared farther down the docks. Then it was gone in a moment and suddenly it was right in front of them again.

Alex stood there soaking wet with a hand to her head. "Whoa…" was all she said before falling over passed out.

The boy was there too. He backed up from the body and hit Leo. He jumped at the unexpected contact and suddenly Leo couldn't feel the ground underneath him and he was surrounded by water. In front of him was the dark form of the little boy, thrashing around sinking down.

_He can't swim! _Leo realized and grabbed him before rushing for the surface. When they surfaced he found the Statue of Liberty towering up right behind him.

"What the…?" he murmured utterly confused. Wasn't he on dry land at the docks only a second ago? _Did we just… teleport?_

The boy floating in his hands was breathing tiredly until his head fell forward in a faint.

"Okay…" Leo muttered. "You're defiantly not a normal human… And did you need to strand me all the way out here?"

...--... ...--... ...--... ...--... ...--... ...--... ...--...

Two teenage boys walked through the parking lot heading up to a large nine story building. A large red cross was over the entrance.

One of the boys stretched his arms skyward, receiving pops from his spine, then got more pops from his neck while pushing his head to the left and right. "Man, did we have to sleep in a tree?"

"Hey," his companion said looking inside his wallet. "It was either Burger King or a motel. We're running a bit low on the green if ya know what I mean."

"Yeah and it sounds like you're gonna lose some red today," the first boy said, pointing at his friend. "If you know what _I _mean."

The latter put his wallet away and adjusted the goggles resting on the top of his head. "Yeah, well I hope there's no needles involved."

"How do you expect them to do it?" the former asked as the glass door slid open when they passed under the motion sensor. "Prick ya finger and catch each drop in a bucket?"

"Is that an option?" the friend asked and they both laughed as they approached the front desk. The receptionist looked up from her computer at the sound of footsteps.

"Can I help you?" she asked, looking their outfits over. Both of them wore jackets, gloves, goggles that pilots used and their hair was terribly windblown even though it was barely more than a breeze outside.

The one that had the goggles hanging around his neck leaned against the counter. "We're looking for a little birdie with a molting problem, heard he lost a few liters along with some dignity."

"Um… and you are?"

"I'm Drop Down and this is Terry," the one with goggles on his head said. "We're friends of Dev. We're here on a… special visit."

"I'm going to need some identification," the receptionist said. "Just to make sure you're not with the press. We've had a terrible problem with the news lately."

The boys looked at each other. Double D shrugged his shoulders. Terry gave a relieved smile, "Finally some freedom."

They took their jackets off and snapped out a pair of wings each. Terry had tan scaly wings like something expected from Pterodactyl. Double D flapped black feathered wings like that of a large bird.

"We don't exactly have ID's," Terry said, wrapping the arms of his jacket around his waist. "This good enough for ya? Because we just flew like… what was it again?"

"A hundred and fifteen miles in twenty-four hours, but that includes that half an hour spent with _someone _'accidentally' getting locked in the gas station bathroom."

"Heh-heh," Terry guiltily smiled with his palms up.

"Anyway, yeah, we're here to see Dev."

"F-fourth floor," the receptionist said in awe at the two. "Four fifteen, t-the elevators tha-"

"Nah, we'll take the stairs, thanks," Double D said and headed to where a sign pointed the way.

Terry stretched his wings out, receiving yet more pops as he followed his friend since escaping the labs. "I hate elevators…"

"Yeah, so do I," Double D said as he pushed open the door to the stairwell. "They're too cramped."

"So fourth floor, that means three or four flights?" Terry asked, sticking his head out over the railing to look up the hole that ran to the ceiling eight stories up, boarded by the many stairs.

"This is the first floor, so the fourth would be three flights," Double D said and jumped the railing. Beating his wings he easily rose up to the right door, Terry right under him.

"And see? No waiting for the elevator," Terry commented as they walked out into the hallway. "Whoa, what happened to the lights?" he asked looking up. Men were changing the long light bulbs in the hall. The discarded flimsy sheets that normally covered up the florescent lights were against a wall, all of them with a hole burned in them.

"You thinking what I am?" Double D asked after examining one of the holes.

"Hospitals allow guns?"

"They're not supposed to."

"Hey, you can't lock up an airhead and not expect resistance, right?"

"People just don't understand that."

As the two walked down the hall passing nurses and doctors who stopped what they were doing to stare at the 'teens' retreating backs; it was just so weird to see wings on people outside of movies and comics.

Double D counted down the numbers placed beside each door. A few doors away from the right room Terry got fed up with the feel of eyes on him.

"They don't have to stare."

"Come on," Double D said opening the door.

Terry crossed his arms and followed. "The nerve of some people…"

"Oh don't be a baby."

"What I d-" Terry started but stopped when he saw they're fellow flier and had to suppress a laugh. Dev was lying on his stomach; two thick belts running across his legs and ankles strapping him to the bed and he was holding a pillow pressed over his head.

Terry walked to the side of the bed and leaned down, head close to the pillow. "Hey bir-" he was cut off by the injured experiment's hand lashing out and gripping his throat.

Dev removed the pillow, leaning up on an elbow and had their faces inches apart. "_Don't _start with me skin flap…" He was just a little ticked off at the moment.

"O-kay," Terry said in a strangled voice. "Sor-ry."

With a huff Dev released him and pushed him away. Terry stumbled back rubbing his neck.

"Just untie me."

"What'd you do?" Double D asked as he messed with one of the buckles.

"I went up to the roof in the middle of night, that's it," Dev said like he hadn't shot out half the lights in the hallway, and looked like he was about to jump off the building when he was forced back inside. When the belts were released Dev turned over and sat up. "I don't get how these humans can't understand that a guy with freak'n _wings_ can't stay _inside_ for very long without trying to get _out_."

Terry shook his head. "Some people just don't understand."

Now freezing inside the room, Dev looked the two over. "So you two stayed together, a bird brain and a skin flap?"

Double D shrugged. "Life's not bad with a companion, and opposites do work out well with each other."

"And I don't have to worry about leaving behind a trail of feathers," Terry said.

"That happened once and we were never caught," Double D said.

Terry waved him off and walked around the bed to examine the splint.

A few minutes later a nurse came in, faltered for a moment at seeing the belts taken off but she quickly recovered. "Um, we're ready for the blood donation."

Dev stood up and grabbed Double D before he fell over at a bad head rush. When the injured one could, the three experiments shuffled out of the room and followed the nurse to a small room.

Dev and Terry sat down in the two chairs by the wall. Looking uncomfortable Double D climbed onto the stiff bed with the sterile sheet of paper running down it. The crinkling of the paper only made him feel worse.

A few stretched out moments later the doctor walked through the door wearing a long white coat that looked a little too much like it belonged to a scientist. The guy himself looked nice enough but Double D only had eyes for the coat and tortured memories going through his mind. The doctor said something that was probably a greeting as he pulled out a needle attached to a tube and bag to take the blood.

The boy on the bed forced himself to stay still as his arm was prepared for the needle. When it was inserted he accidentally looked at the tube as the red liquid ran through the clear plastic knowing it was his and turned as white as the paper he was sitting on followed by the sound of paper roughly crinkling.

Dev slapped a hand over his face as Terry laughed - Double D had fainted.

* * *

I wonder who this new person could be, and what could the e-mail say? hm... Poor Double D... (shakes head) he hates needles, and for good reason. Oh, and for those of you that might not have caught it, Double D stands for Drop Down, don't blame me for experiements uncreative naming. Oh, and I didn't intentially mean to have three people pass out in this chapter, but it just kind of happened. (shrug)

and once again my mind goes blank. God that's so annoying. I guess I could say that the turtles, splinter and Mikey's personality since his human form is mine, belongs to... uh... Mirage? no... maybe... well whoever made them up. And whoever did: good job! Everyone else, what do ya know, are mine.

And to those reviewers out there THANKS! and to everyone else, as I always say:

REVIEW!


	7. Jumpy Jack Jumper

**Chapter Six**

**Jumpy Jack Jumper**

Sometimes the best way to rouse someone from a faint is to have the body register something that it would want and thinks it needs at the time. This particular time it was pizza.

Alex opened her eyes at the smell. She found herself lying on a bench that used to be the backseat of an SUV. Sitting up she rubbed her eyes and looked around. The last of the fire flies were gone and sure enough a line of open pizza boxes were sitting on the card table.

Getting up proved to be dizzying but she made it and went to the food.

"Hey, look who's finally up," Raph said, throwing her a can of soda from a probably newly bought box. She caught it and put her finger on the tab to open it but faltered looking at Raph suspiciously.

"What, you think he poisoned it?" Razor asked from the couch.

"Then you open it," Alex said, passing him the can.

Razor looked at the can in his hands. Since Thanksgiving last year it had been shown that Alex was still trying to get back at Raph with a spraying can of soda in the face. To this day she has yet to do it successfully, and Raph continuously rubbed it in her face with a spray of soda himself.

Holding the can away from him, accidentally pointing the opening at Alex and pulled the tab. Nothing happened. "There, see? It's not a bomb."

"Don't blame me if I don't trust him," Alex said as she grabbed the can. Taking a drink she almost spit it out and looked at what she thought to be soda. "For the love of- Raph! I told you at New Years, I don't drink beer!"

"When'd you start drinking anyway?" Razor asked.

"He probably can't remember," Leo said seeming to just appear.

"Oh stow it would ya Leo?" Raph said roughly drinking from his own can. A couple months back he had gotten an earful from the oldest when Leo found a forgotten can thrown in the corner of his brother's bedroom. Leo said he wouldn't tell Master Splinter if the alcohol stopped there, but of course, it didn't. It could have been his rebellious attitude, could have been the change of pace from soda, it could have just been the fact that he liked beer. _Besides, it's not like I drink myself into a stupor…_

"What time is it?" Alex asked in an attempt to change the subject.

"Almost two in the afternoon," Don said coming over from the computer. Gorf had begged, pleaded and constantly said his name until he let the boy get to the computer, even with his injuries.

"What happened last night?" Alex asked, putting the beer on the table.

"We're still trying to figure that out for sure," Leo said. "Though I think an experiment found us."

"But I've never met him before," Razor said. "I don't think he's from the labs."

"He could be an early attempt from the new labs," Don said. "Since we know that some of the scientists are still alive, though it's hard to tell if they've had enough time _to _reconstruct the labs yet. From what I've seen of the equipment it would be hard and expensive to replace it all."

"Where is the kid?" Alex asked looking around. "Wait- where's Mikey?" She noticed the blonde not hanging around anywhere within sight.

"Kid's under the bed," Raph said, jabbing a thumb in the direction of the mattress. "Woke up 'bout an hour ago, he's still a bit freaked."

"We figured to just let him come out when he's ready," Don said.

"And we sent Mikey back to the lair to report to Master Splinter to say we're all still alive and everything's fine," Leo explained. "Told him to say we're staying here until we're sure nothing's coming after us any time soon."

Across the room Gorf leaned back in his computer chair, a wireless keyboard resting in his lap. The keyboard was one of the few things he had managed to get from an actual store instead of the junkyard, along with his wireless mouse. His eyes scanned over the e-mail that had set off his notice alarm. It was pretty generic.

To: Lord Of The Flies20

From: kid 4 ever

Subject: hi?

Dear froG,

I found you on and you seem like a fun, interesting guy. I was just hoping we could be friends, like someone to talk with in our Free time. I'd be really happy if you'd want to. I'll just go ahead and say a little about myself. I like Experiments, its fun to figure stuff out on your own, and I'm hoping to go into a medical field when I get into college. I won't bore you with my life if you don't find me to be a type of friend you'd want.

I hope we can Chat, but if you don't reply I'll understand.

a hopeful friend,

coD

_Cod? _Gorf thought with a small laugh. _Feel sorry for a person that gets stuck with the name _Cod… But then, as he reread the e-mail something started to confuse him. The way the person actually typed the words out instead of using short hand, and seemed to use proper grammar, and then started capitalizing words in the middle of sentences? _Not to mention you capitalized the wrong letter in your own name, _he noticed. _And if you found me on MySpace, why not just mail me on there? Why use my actual e-mail?_

The more he thought about it the more the capitalized words seemed to jump out at him. Slowly he reached onto the desk and grabbed a pen and scratch paper. He scrawled out the oddly capitalized words: froG Com Free Experiments Chat coD.

"Hm…" He tapped the pen on his temple before it popped out at him. 'froG' was actually 'Gorf', so technically 'coD' was 'Doc'! "No way…" he whispered with a smile. Circling 'Com' he connected the three remaining words, then put com at the end of it and a website address was sitting in front of him.

Putting the paper on the desk he typed the website in on the tool bar and sure enough it worked. A login screen sat before him. The background was black with the words

EXPERIMENTAL CHATTING

Stay In Touch With Secrets

in bold red letters.

"Secrets, huh?"

Below the words were two boxes outlined in white against the black. The top box said NAME, the bottom BIRTHPLACE. At first Gorf typed in a name he made up and said New York as his birthplace. He hit enter. The words ACCESS DENIED popped up over the boxes.

"That's a bit harsh…" the boy muttered. "But, if you want the right words…" He typed in his actual super-creative-name in the right box and 'The Labs' into the birthplace box. He hit enter and the screen went blank. In a second an entire list of very familiar, and very made up, names appeared on his browser.

As he stared a little unbelieving at all the names of fellow experiments who were scattered across the globe a window popped up on his screen. It was a feed from a web cam holding a teenage girl with long brown hair. Behind her were posters of the human body, and stacks of notebooks. "Hello lord of the flies."

"Doc?" Gorf asked with happy surprise.

"I'm glad you could figure out my little coded message," Doc said. "I'd figure you'd find the site sooner than this, but when your name still hadn't shown up on the list I decided to reach a hand out. Hey, what happened to you?" she asked, taking in the bandages.

"Oh, heh, just an accident with an energy ray I have been building. I got it working, but it was stronger than its mass," Gorf explained. "I kind of got ran over by it."

Doc shook her head. "I'm not there to help you anymore; you can't get yourself killed by your own creations."

"I know, I know," Gorf said. "So what's the news with anyone? Did everyone make it out of the labs okay?"

"Yep, every one of us, it's amazing really. Or we think everyone. No sign of Alex or Razor," the girl sighed. "You haven't heard from them, have you?"

"Heard from them? I'm practically living with 'em!" Gorf said and turned the swivel chair to the back of the building. "Hey Alex, you gotta come on here!" he called.

Alex came walking over with an actual can of soda and looked at the screen. "Hey Doc!" she said in surprise.

"Hey Alex, glad to hear that nothing's happened to you guys yet."

Alex and Gorf looked at each other. "What do you mean?" they asked together.

"You guys haven't heard?"

"Heard what?"

"Dev's stuck in a hospital."

Alex choked on the drink. "What happened?"

"Some robotic birds attacked him a few days ago. Broke his wing and ripped his arm open. The details were all over the news, though they didn't say who exactly, thank god."

"Robot birds," Alex said. "We were attacked by the same thing."

"Well we don't know if it was the same thing," Gorf said.

"How many five foot birds come out of the blue and start attacking people, and not only people but a group who are technically inhuman," Alex stated.

"Good point," Gorf said. "Oh, and to just let you know, the scientists are back."

"…what?!" Doc exclaimed after comprehending what was just said.

"I literally ran into one of 'em," Gorf said. "Fell on my butt while doing so."

"Is Dev going to be okay?" Alex asked.

"Yeah he's fine, when I last talked to him Double D and Terry were there to keep him company," Doc said. "The town he's in is out in the country and they're willing to keep him a secret… for the moment anyway. We need to be careful."

"Yeah, we've seen the movies," Alex sighed. "We know what might happen if everything's spilled."

"I think they go overboard with the military, but they get the point across easy enough," Gorf said. "People like us, like Don and them, talk about panic in the streets."

Doc nodded with a grim face. "Anyway, you guys said you were attacked like Dev. Everyone okay?"

"Yeah, Razor got bitten in the water, some robotic shark waiting for them under the pier. He'll be stuck on the couch for a while but it's nothing fatal," Alex informed.

"Yeah, well I gotta go," Doc said. "You guys be careful. We worked too hard to get out of the labs to be reeled back in."

"Yeah," Gorf said as Alex nodded.

Doc gave a wave and the window closed when there was a knock on the large double doors.

"I got it," Alex said as Gorf started clicking on names to get reacquainted with fellow technicians.

Sitting beside the lever that opened the door was a small screen that was connected to a security camera just above the doors. Turning the screen on she found a blonde seventeen-year-old carrying a plastic bag. He looked up at the camera and waved.

Alex pulled the lever and opened the doors wide enough for Mikey to walk through and closed them behind him. "Hey Mike, what's in the bag?"

"Is the kid still under the bed?"

"Yeah,"

Mikey held the bag up. "Maybe I can get him to come out."

Alex could only imagine what he'd brought, but it was Mike so maybe he could do it. The worst that could happen was scaring him more.

Mikey went to the back of the building, dropped the bag on the couch beside Razor and withdrew an old, patched, stuffed monkey. It was the classic kiddy toy with lanky, flexible arms and legs, and though it was missing an eye and the tip of the tail looked like it had been chewed on way back when, it looked like something used for comfort.

When the teen went to the bed and sat on the floor with the toy Razor couldn't help but look into the bag with interest. There was a deck of regular cards, a Uno deck, a box of checkers, a bouncy ball, and a box of markers with a spiral notebook. Truthfully it looked like a fun bag that would be expected from a babysitter.

Over by the bed Mikey got on his stomach and peered into the depths. In the darkest part of the shadow he could make out a mass that was the little kid. "Hey," he said. "You know you got more patience than I ever will. I would never be able to stay under there for as long as you have. Sometimes my family wished I could stay still half the amount of time you can." He smiled but got no response, so he brought up the stuffed animal. "This is Mr. Muntey, I used to play with him all the time when I was little."

"I can't believe he still has that stupid thing…" Raph muttered.

"You didn't think it was so stupid when you continuously stole it from him to sleep with," Leo said with a smirk at the memories.

"Shuddup,"

"He was really good at comforting me when I was scared," Mikey continued, oblivious to his brothers' mutterings. "You can use him if you want, I don't need him anymore. There's really nothing to be scared about," he assured, pushing the animal under the bed. "Yeah my friends look kind of odd, but we're not dangerous. We're actually the good guys. Even Raphie over there, even if he does look threatening sometimes he's just a big meanie. We won't hurt you, promise."

All he got for a response was the growl of a stomach.

Mikey smiled wider. "Wait here," he said as he got up and went to the table. Three of the pizza boxes were empty, the left over pizzas piled into one box. The slices were still warm and he just picked the whole box up. Going back to the bed he dropped to his knees, opened the box and put it on the floor, partially sliding it between the bed frame and the floor. Then he sat down, his back against the bed frame and grabbed one of the slices.

At first he might as well have been eating by himself, but gradually there was a sign of life as the box slowly slid farther under the bed.

"He making any progress?" Alex asked coming over after getting bored listening to Gorf babble on with friends about how to successfully create a number of inventions and how to easily get the supplies.

"I think he's actually getting somewhere," Don said.

"Mikey's not that bad at comforting someone," Alex said. "As long as you're not in the way of his TV."

"He sure is a pain _to _comfort though," Raph said and Alex just had to nod.

While Mikey ate and talked meaninglessly to the unmade bed, Razor had dug into the bag that Mikey had brought with him. Now he was playing with the bouncy ball out of nothing better to do. But when he threw it against the wall it rolled out of his reach and impossible to retrieve from his spot. He couldn't get up and get it with his numb leg rendering him temporarily handicapped.

As he was about to ask Mikey to grab it for him when something strange happened. There was a flash of color by the ball then the ball disappeared from the ground. With another flash of color and movement the ball landed on the cushion beside him.

"Huh?" Razor grabbed the ball and looked at the bed. Curiously he nonchalantly tossed the ball away from him. When it stopped on the ground well out of reach for him there was a moment of nothing, and then the ball disappeared with the same flash of color and it reappeared beside him.

Everyone except Gorf had noticed this too. Razor threw the ball a third time, and once again it reappeared at his side without anyone moving.

"I told you he could teleport," Alex directed at Don in an I-told-you-so voice.

"But why's he coming out to retrieve a ball?"

_Just a ball?_ Razor wondered to himself. He reached into the bag and pulled out the deck of cards. Dropping them out of the box he held them out away from him standing up, pushing on the decks until they bowed out. When there was too much pressure the deck basically exploded and cards went flying. When they settled across the floor no one moved. A few seconds passed and then there were quick flashes of red as the cards started to disappear. Then, when the last card was gone, the entire deck appeared neatly stacked beside Razor on the armrest.

"Why's he helping Razor out?" Don wondered aloud.

"I don't know, but I gotta go," Razor said and started to get up. Alex got ready to move forward before he fell over but she wasn't fast enough. Razor, determined to go to the bathroom without the need of assistance, tried to take a step forward and sure enough his bad leg collapsed. But he never hit the ground. To their surprise the kid that had been cowering under the bed was suddenly underneath Razor, holding him up, Mr. Muntey hanging from the crook of his arm. Pushing up on the body the boy put Razor leaning on his good leg and looked around. He disappeared for a split second and when he reappeared he had Don's staff in his hands. He held the staff out to Razor to have something to lean on.

"Uh… thanks?"

The boy stepped back. His breathing was hard and he looked warn out. _Probably from picking up those cards… _Alex thought.

Then the kid spoke his first word, directed right at Razor. "Sharp?"

Razor froze, staring at him. _He couldn't have meant… _"W-what?"

The boy looked confused as he looked Razor up and down, taking in the many scars. At that moment Mikey had decided to get up. As he got to his feet he used the mattress for support causing the springs to squeak. The odd, unexpected sound made the boy jump and he disappeared, popping up behind Razor's back.

Razor turned around. "Hey, like Mike said, there's no reason to be scared of us."

It took a little while but twenty minutes later they finally got the boy to sit still without jumping at every sound and with each jump he'd teleport back under the bed. It took a little longer to let Leo, Raph and Don near him, though they had to sit on the bed with the boy pressed back into the couch, leaning against Razor. For reasons unknown he seemed to find comfort in the shark.

It took ten more minutes to get him to actually speak so they could learn his name. When Razor asked the kid had looked at him funny, like he should have known it already, but answered anyway.

"J-J-Jack Jumper."

"How old are you, Jack?" Alex asked sitting on the car bench she had woken up on.

The boy looked at his hands trying to remember. "Mmm, three," he said, holding up three fingers.

"A three-year-old in a five-year-old body," Razor said. "Yep, one of us."

"Huh?" Jack asked.

"We're not as old as we look either," Razor explained.

"A lot older, actually," Alex said.

"Where'd you come from?" Don asked.

"I don't know," Jack shrugged. "Where I've always been… with the others… and the…" he started shaking.

"And the what?" Mikey asked. "Robots?"

Jack shook his head. "Monsters…" he whispered.

"Monsters? What kind of monsters?" Leo asked.

"Like, sitting under your bed, hiding in the closet, monsters?" Mikey guessed.

The thought of creatures under the bed seemed to scare the boy even more considering he had just spent about two hours underneath one.

"Nice going Mike," Raph said.

"What I do?"

"You scared him you idiot."

Across the room Gorf had become content with his conversations and logged off the computer. Going over to the living quarters in a weakened walk he found that they had gotten the new kid to come out into the open and he felt obliged to give his greetings. Sneaking up to the couch and quickly leaned over the back with a big exclamation "_Hi!_".

Jack, of course not expecting the sudden voice, jumped with a cry and disappeared.

"Gorf…" numerous voices groaned.

"What?" Gorf asked, falling over the back of the couch and doing an ungraceful flip into the seat.

"Do you know how long it took us to get him out here?" Leo said as Don got to his hands and knees.

"Well he's not under the bed."

"I wouldn't be either with Mikey's comment about monsters," Razor said.

"Where could he go?" Alex asked. They looked at the battle field of half finished inventions and machines. A small body could by anywhere in that mess of metal and rust. There was also the matter of the storage space up above, and for all they knew he could have teleported himself out of the building. They didn't know the distance limitations of a teleporter since they have never met one before.

"I'll look upstairs," Alex said and used her wings, which was faster than finding the stairs.

"Come on," Leo said and started off to look around the machines.

"I'd help, but I can't walk," Razor said. While the others left to search the building and around the walls outside for Jack the injured shark sat and thought. _Why does he like me? Normally people are scared of me if I can't keep my mouth closed. And that look he gave me when I asked for his name… And why'd he call me Sharp? _He pulled the bandana off his head and felt it between his hands._ Could he really know- could he really be-? _Razor shook his head. _No, he's not alive. Those assholes killed him, that's all there is to it. Stop fooling yourself. Yes, Alex came back to you but that was twenty-four hours later, this is nineteen _**years**_, don't get your hopes up before you end up crying again._

Minutes ticked by before Don's voice called "Found him!"

They regrouped back by the couch and bed, Don carrying the unconscious body. "He was under the computer desk."

"Nice going bug breath," Raph said. "You made him faint."

"What?" Gorf asked innocently. "I was just saying hi."

"No I don't think that's why," Don said as he laid Jack on the bed. "Like how Leo said he passed out last night. I think if… he uses his ability too much in a short amount of time it puts too much strain on his body, and possibly his mind."

"Like when I first touched him," Alex said. "I don't think I've ever been so dizzy in my life. Talk about not being able to take in your surroundings."

Don nodded. "Or when he picked up the cards. If we saw right he teleported to each one so we couldn't see him. Though these are only my thoughts and I don't know the complete mechanics of teleportation."

"Though one thing's for sure," Razor said. "He's an experiment."

"But he didn't come from the labs," Alex said. "We've never met him before."

"He's not a failure," Gorf put in. "I'd say his existence is as successful as we are."

"Even if he did come from the labs, wouldn't he have been buried by the explosions?" Mikey asked. "I know we made it, but come on."

"So where did he come from?" Razor asked. "And why does like me so much?"

"'Cause you're just _so_ lovable," Gorf joked.

"Still want to know where he came from," Alex said.

"Well when we found him he was being chased by one of those bird robots," Leo said. "Could he be a product from what your scientists have already reconstructed?"

Gorf shook his head. "It's too early to remake that kind of data without any notes."

"With the others and monsters…" Don muttered to himself with crossed arms, trying to think. "Where could that be?"

"Depends on what you call a monster," Gorf said. "I mean you guys are monsters to the public."

"So are you guys," Mikey said.

"No, I'm a demon," Alex said with a hand to her chest. She pointed to Razor "He's a monster."

"What's the difference?" Razor asked.

"Demon's have minds and think intelligibly, whereas monsters are mindless killing machines, _fish breath_," Alex said matter-of-factly.

"Hey, what's that make me?" Gorf asked.

"You're a… a…" Alex hesitated for a good enough word. "A… thing."

Gorf stuck his tongue out at her.

"He's our Cousin It!" Mikey said happily.

Gorf crossed his arms at being called a thing and then an 'it', then his eyes caught a dot moving around in the air behind Alex. With a lash of his tongue Alex jumped to the side.

"Bug breath!" she exclaimed as the fly was quickly reeled into Gorf's mouth. "That's disgusting, stop doing that in front of us!" Gorf just gave her a toothy smile. Turned out Razor wasn't the only one in need of a toothbrush, and actually use it.

"Oh, I got an idea!" Mikey suddenly said holding a finger up.

"Wow, miracles _do _happen," Raph said.

Ignoring his brother's comment, Mikey continued. "You know how Jack said he didn't know where he came from and there were monsters there?"

"That's _all _he said," Raph said.

"Go on Mike," Don said.

"Well, what if he came from a secret, uncharted island?" Mikey suggested.

"What do you mean?" Leo asked.

"Well you know, like in the movies, like… Jurassic Park and there's monsters that have been created and they roam around free because they were too much to handle for their creators," Mikey said in one long breath.

"First of all, Mike," Don said. "Dinosaurs are not monsters, they're prehistoric animals. Secondly, like you said, its fiction, a movie, not real."

"I said _like _the movies," Mikey pressed. "A secret island out in the middle of the ocean and there are monsters roaming around and… a volcano! But its... what's the word…"

"Active?" Don said, knowing his brother was just letting his imagination go creating this 'secret island'.

"No, no, no when it works, but it's asleep."

"Uh… dormant?"

"Yeah, a dormant volcano, and all the beaches are rocky so ships crash into 'em, and there's a force field over it so satellites can't pick it up on the radar, and there's another stronger force field that doesn't let anything out but things can get in like ships, birds, or fish so the monsters don't run out of food so it's like this one big cage that… provides its own food… and-"

"Mikey!" Leo interrupted. "Enough, now you're just making things up."

"I thought it sounded kind of cool," Gorf said.

From the bed Jack mumbled something about someone named Tyler and rolled over.

"What if Mikey has a point though?" Alex said.

"Like what?" Raph asked skeptically.

"What if…" She rubbed her arms. There were still faint traces of the scars left over from when she was first captured by the labs, where Hun had followed Ambrose's order and cut across her arm with a knife engraving the words 'PROPERTY' and 'A.L.E.X.'. They were hardly noticeable anymore after she had used a lotion that smoothed scars out that April had given her, but they were still there. "What if there are scientists at work. But… I don't think I mean ours. Jack said there were others, what if there's a second party of scientists and they have set up their own labs on an island somewhere, creating monsters along with experiments like us."

"As if one set of messed up humans ain't enough," Raph said. "Why not throw in a second set to screw with our lives."

Don sighed after thinking about it for a moment. "Okay, say there possibly is an island, tell me this: how'd he get here then, if there's a force field that doesn't let anything out?"

"Duh, he teleported passed the force field. Come on Donnie," Mikey said like it was the most obvious answer.

"Wouldn't that just strand him in the middle of the ocean?" Leo said. "He can't swim."

Jack rolled over again. "Crossbow… don't… Nick…" he groaned.

"Hmmm…" Gorf hummed watching the kid. He moved to the bedside and crouched down; sitting on the balls of his feet making himself level with the top of the mattress.

"What are you doing?" Razor asked.

"Saw it in a movie once, now quiet for a moment if ya will," Gorf said distractedly. Leaning forward he said quietly into the boy's ear "Jack… can you hear me?"

There was incoherent mumbling and the boy squeezed the stuffed monkey he was still holding.

"Tell me…" Gorf said in a soft voice barely over a whisper. "Who are Tyler and Nick?"

"Hunters…" Jack mumbled.

Gorf smiled to himself. "What do they hunt?"

The small body started shaking. "…everything…"

"Even you?"

The shaking calmed and the ghost of a smile appeared pulling on the corners of his mouth. "Safe…"

"I can' believe this is working," Raph muttered.

"Ask where he came from," Mikey said.

Gorf slowly held up a hand to quiet them as Jack rolled over in his sleep. "Are Nick and Tyler your friends?" he continued to question.

There was something that could have been some form of yes, though it was hard to tell. They could, however, make out the words "play" and "fight".

"Did you live with them?"

More mumbling - it seemed he was incapable of saying 'yes' and 'no' while asleep.

"Where did you live?" Gorf asked and Don rolled his eyes as he watched Mikey lean closer like it would help him hear the answer.

"Trees… salt… water… a lot…"

"That really narrows it down," Raph said sarcastically.

"Sh!" Gorf hissed like extracting the choppy information was a delicate operation. "What else?" he said softly to Jack.

"…volcano…"

"Ha!" Mikey whispered happily.

"Machines…" Jack groaned. "Lights… needles…" He started shaking again, grip tightening into a chokehold on Mikey's old toy. "Wires… wires… lightning… monsters, men, coats, chains, trackers-" It was obvious whatever dreams he had been having were turning into nightmares as Jack went to whining, shaking uncontrollably, and even cold sweat starting on his forehead.

Seeing the transition to flat out fear Gorf quickly jumped up so he was crouching onto the frame of the bed, shaking the quaking shoulder. "Jack, Jack!" Gorf said louder than his info-collecting-voice. Jack opened his eyes with the confused look of not knowing where he was, freaked at seeing an unfamiliar face, smacking Gorf's hand away from him in the process, and disappeared. A second later he was found cowering on the couch, face pressed into Razor's shoulder.

Razor looked at them with the same confusion they were giving him. Whatever Jack found comforting in the shark was a mystery to them all.

There was a moment of no one moving or saying anything, waiting for the jumpy child to calm down when something unexpected happened. Jack suddenly covered his ears, leaning back until he fell into a sitting position.

"Stop it…" he whined. "Voices too loud… go away… stop…" He sounded on the verge of tears.

If they were perplexed at first, now they were flat out confused beyond belief.

Razor slowly reached a hand out. As soon as his fingertips touched Jack's arm everything around his suddenly vanished he was surrounded by open space. The first thing Razor realized was that he was falling. Shortly afterwards he landed in water.

...--...

"I heard a splash," Alex said as they stared at the empty couch in front of them.

"He went to the river again?" Leo asked.

"Come on, Razor can't swim with only one leg, and Jack can't swim at all apparently," Gorf said and jumped up onto the wall and leapt again. Turning he landed upside down on the bottom of the ledge that acted as the second story. It was faster to jump on the bottom of the ledge than to go through all the machinery.

Alex flew to the door, leaving the four more experienced ninjas on the ground to move the old fashioned way.

The girl was first to the door, but Gorf opened it. It was still daylight outside so Alex landed and Leo, Don, and Raph hung back.

"You see 'em?" Alex asked as she, Gorf, and Mikey ran out onto the pier.

"Uh-uh," Gorf said, scanning over the water.

"Wait- what the hell?!" Alex exclaimed when she saw a big, dark mass moving under the surface. It was too wide to be a human body.

"It's that thing that attacked Razor!" Mikey said as a metal fin rose up in the air.

"Gorf, it'll find Razor, follow it underwater, I'll distract it, get Razor and Jack back to land," Alex quickly said and broke Master Splinter's main rule: _never _show your inhuman differences in public, _especially _during the middle of the day.

Gorf dove into the water and Alex took a quick flight leaving Mikey on the pier. It was just a matter where he didn't have an advantage.

In the air Alex hurried to follow the fin out to the middle of the river before it dove down, that being where she dove. Hitting the water proved to be _cold_ and she almost lost her breath, but continued to follow the dark mass through the murk. In the momentum from the high dive she was able to clasp onto the dorsal fin that belonged to the robotic shark. Pushing her hand forward she waved her hand in front of the red eye, which got its attention. The robot stopped and turned on her.

Gorf quickly passed by as the metallic shark was distracted and continued in the direction it had been going. He quickly found Razor who only had two limbs to swim by. As he kicked with his right leg and pulled with his left arm, his right arm clung to Jack while his left leg dragged under him uselessly.

Going quickly, Gorf grabbed Razor's arm. But Razor jerked away and passed him Jack instead. Thinking it was probably better, Gorf took Jack up leaving Razor to his gills. In the frog's arms Jack coughed and started shivering.

The boy started looking around and noticed the arms holding him were green, not grey.

"Hi," Gorf said before Jack could do anything out of fear from the stranger. "We haven't been introduced yet, but I'm another good guy, and I can be your friend if you want." Knowing the danger in the water, Gorf swam for shore as he talked.

When Razor finally surfaced he headed for the docks also. But when he was almost there Alex came up for a breath. Razor turned in slight confusion - seemed to be a lot of confusion going around. The bewilderment turned to concern when she was suddenly dragged back under.

Not paying any mind to his useless leg, Razor dove down and started for the unfair fight.

Alex had her elements of air and land but she couldn't have everything, and water was proving to be a bad weakness at the moment. She had already received a bite to the arm and now the robot had latched on around her foot. Jerking just seemed to make it worse, and kicking was useless with the water absorbing the force of the blows.

Then there's movement off to the side and suddenly a chunk of the robot's tail's missing. Since its mouth was already full with Alex Razor had no problem tearing the thing apart, and he didn't take his time about it.

_Revenge… _Alex guessed as she quickly headed for the surface, choking on the lack of air in her lungs.

She hit oxygen with a gasp and can already feel her arm start to go numb, the coldness of the water on her skin fading as the feeling in the bitten limbs was ebbed away.

Razor came up beside her. "You okay?"

"I don't know," Alex said truthfully.

"Well," Razor sighed. "At least I don't have to go to the bathroom anymore."

Alex splashed him with her good arm. "You're disgusting."

After rubbing the water out of his eyes, Razor grabbed Alex and they awkwardly pulled each other to dry land.

When they got to the edge of the dock Mikey was there to help pull them out of the water. Alex was the first to leave the river and Mikey helped get her back inside. She was already healing but that fact didn't hold back the numbness spreading through the two limbs. When Alex was inside the warehouse Mikey went back out to help Razor and walked him back into the building, Razor's arm wrapped around Mike's neck, the basically dead leg dragging on the wooden planks.

...--... ...--... ...--... ...--... ...--... ...--... ...--...

"I thought that thing was dead," Mikey said when everyone was back in the living space of dock thirteen. Jack seemed to be getting used to the appearances of those around him as Gorf appeared with towels from above to dry those that took a swim off.

"It was," Razor said, back in his spot on the couch.

"I don't get it," Don said as he checked Alex for any lasting wounds that might not have healed from her fast healing ability. "Whoever's making these robots, do they want us dead or alive?"

Alex huffed as she sat on the opposite side of the couch as Razor. She couldn't feel her arm, and the last of the feeling in her leg was about to leave any moment. "Well whoever it is, Ambrose or whoever created Jack, they're not afraid to play rough."

"It's defiantly Ambrose," Gorf said, running a towel over Jack's head. "The first shark appeared before Jack showed up."

"Looks like we'll have to watch our backs no matter where we are now," Leo said. "Robot birds in the skies, sharks in the river, not to mention the Foot."

"Don't forget the ones that might come after Jack," Mikey added, though it didn't the matter in the slightest.

"Ain't we collecting a little army of enemies," Raph said.

Alex leaned back into the armrest of the couch with a huff. She wanted to yell at whoever was up there controlling their fates when she flinched. "Ow!"

"What?" Don asked.

"Something shocked me!" Alex said and noticed that shock had swallowed the last feeling in her leg. She pulled the torn pant leg up to reveal the skin that still had traces of red from watered down blood. There was still a small ribbon of fresh blood slowly flowing down her pale skin. It was coming from a single spot in the area of the bite.

"I think there's something lodged in there," Don said looking closer. "It'd explain why it hasn't sealed like all the other marks. Gorf, do you have any tweezers?"

"Uh- yeah I think, hold on," Gorf said and took his own, special jumping-on-the-walls way to the upper level. There were the sounds of rummaging, mutterings, a small crash, glass breaking, something falling over, and then Gorf dropped down from the ledge with the requested item. "Here ya go."

Alex watched, as did most everyone else, with growing sickness as Don tried to pull the object out of the girl's leg. When it finally did come out it was coated in crimson blood while the hole sealed shut almost instantly.

"What is it?" Mikey wondered aloud.

"Looks kind of like a small, metal arrowhead to me," Gorf said.

"But considering it came from a shark bite," Leo said. "I'm guessing that's one of its teeth."

Jack cautiously stepped forward, still having some nervous doubts about most anyone except Mikey for looking most human and Razor for - no one knew why. He held his hand out for the tooth and Don dropped it in his palm. Jack held it up to the light between two fingers. After a moment he said "A dart."

"What?" Alex asked.

"A dart," Jack repeated. "Here's a hole at the tip that allows stuff to pass when coming into contact with something. A dart."

"Or a type of dart at least," Don agreed. "The teeth of the robots must be filled with some kind of tranquilizer."

"It's a tranquilizer, it'll ware off, right?" Razor asked. "'Cause I'm starting to miss my leg here."

"If it's a dart, then why'd it shock me?" Alex asked, rubbing her numb leg.

"Because it turned on," Don said looking at the flat of the tooth, where it would connect with the mouth. There was a small, red glowing light.

"Oh it's probably a tracking device," Gorf said like he was predicting the weather.

"Then let's destroy it," Raph said.

"Wait, let me see if any of the tranquilizer is still in it first," Don said. "If I can get a sample of it I could possibly create a cure so we don't have to wait for it to ware off… if it does ware off I mean."

"Don't say it like that!" Alex and Razor exclaimed together.

"I'm sure it does," Don said and turned to Gorf. "I'm sure you have a place that we can look for traces of the tranquilizer, since we can't take it to my lab back in the lair."

"Yeah, at my work bench," Gorf said and led the way.

Razor watched them go. "We're never gonna walk again, are we?" he asked Alex.

There was a moment of silence as Alex poked at her non-feeling leg. "…nope."

* * *

Aw man, I didn't mean to make this one that long, but oh well. I guess I'm making it up, becuase I'm not sure that the next chapter will have much of the normal gang in it. Hey guys, I have an entire world of expirements out there, I can't keep the story inside New York all the time! EVERYTHING HAPPENS IN NEW YORK CITY!

Eh, anyway, yes I gave Gorf an e-mail, and if anything feels the odd need to try it, its not real. Or at least... I think its not real. Sorry to anyone that actually has that for their e-mail! And becuases FF won't let me put the whole e-mail! XP I'm just going to say here (becuase I will say it no matter what FanFiction says!) Gorf has yahoo and Doc has hotmail.

Okay, well I'm kind of on a typing high at the moment or maybe just an all out high that has nothing to do with any drugs in any way shape or form. I the midnight showing of Batman: The Dark Knight and i never went to bed, and its almost 11:00 AM so I've probably been awake for 24 hours and I have the rest of the day to go! So I'm going to get started on my writing so I don't disappear again. I know my disappearence was longer on Another Kind of Mutation, but I don't like neglecting my work, which I'm been doing lately.

So I'm going to stop rambling now before these author's notes become as long as the chapter itself and say bye, and as always:

REVIEW!! please...?


	8. Can't Hide Forever

**Chapter Seven**

**Can't Hide Forever**

"Say _what_?!"

"What?"

"Are you _nuts_?!"

"What? We used to do this all the time."

Wes looked from Dev to Double D to Terry and back to Dev. "You are nuts."

"Don't sky divers do it all the time?"

"They have parachutes!"

"Trust us," Terry said with a confident air. "We gotta strengthen Mr. Weakling here," he added playing with Dev's newly mended wing. The splint had finally come off two days ago and now he was itching to get back into the skies. At first Double D and Terry had to practically re-teach Dev to fly to strengthen the wing so it could carry Dev's weight.

Now the three experiments and a small group of fans that wouldn't leave Dev alone, girls constantly asking if they could have a feather, were standing in the town park. According to Dev two days was long enough for light flight training and he was ready to play a little competitive game shared by all cocky winged soldiers.

"So, explain what you're doing again," one of the human boys said.

"It's called Metal Chicken - but in this case it could be called Grass Chicken," Double D explained, looking at the grassy ground. "It's a knockoff of real Chicken, where two people go at each other until the other one swerves to avoid collision."

"But in this game we go up as high as we can," Terry took over. "And do a flat out freefall, no wings, nothing. Plummeting to the ground at raising speeds," he explained excitedly, adrenaline starting up at just thinking about it.

"Then, when we're nearing the ground it's whoever's more skilled, or crazy enough to last longest without pulling up," Dev finished. "The last one to pull up without crashing head first into the ground wins."

"What if you do crash land?" Wes asked.

The three fliers looked at each other. "Never happened before," they said together with a nonchalant shrug.

"So how high are you going?" one of the girls asked.

Dev looked up with a widening smile. "The cloud line?" he suggested to his mates. "For starters, of course."

"Sounds good to me," Terry said, putting his pilot's goggles over his eyes. And, against the many calling them crazy and suicidal, the three took off. Dev tried to ignore his wing that protested, saying it was still fragile and continued to climb. Looking down he watched as the park lifted away and felt adrenaline start at just being back in the air, feeling the wind swirl around him, knowing he had no real ties with the Earth.

It was a bright, sunny day so there were only a few clouds. When they finally passed the first one to the point they could see the top of it the three hovered there a moment, making sure they were all at the same height.

"How you doing?" Double D asked.

"I'm fine," Dev said and looked down.

"Ready?" Terry said.

"Set…" Double D drew out.

"_**GO!**_" they yelled together and tucked their wings in. The three fell like stones, Dev unable to keep it in as he yelled in happiness after three _long _weeks of being stuck, not only grounded, but _indoors_. Then the logic of the game hit in. In order for them to pull up last they would have to fall as slow as possible without the help of their wings. To do this they laid down in the air, spreading their bodies out to create as much drag as possible.

It wasn't until the last five hundred feet did their wings start to get twitchy. It was self control against instinct as they forced their wings to stay folded against their backs. At the tree line Double D chickened out. Terry and Dev glanced at each other, determination shown in each others eyes. But at twenty feet left Terry regretfully gave in to instinct. With a smile Dev waited ten more feet before opening his wings and a pain shot from his bad wing but he didn't crash.

Swinging his legs under him he slid over the grass to a stop and then fell down. Terry and Double D landed on either side of him and helped him up.

"Man, you still are the master of freefalls," Terry sighed.

Dev shifted his shoulders.

"What's wrong?" Double D asked.

"It's nothing," Dev assured, gently flapping his wings. "Just wasn't fully expecting it I guess. Come on, one more time, just so for time's sake."

"Fine by me!" Terry said and took off.

Dev lifted up after him and noticed Double D still had his feet on the ground. "You coming?"

"I think I'll sit this one out," Double D said.

Dev shrugged and followed Terry.

"You guys are nuts," Wes said coming up to the remaining experiment, but this time he sounded more impressed than concerned for their sanity.

"It's what we're trained for," Double D said. "We just made a game out of it."

"What do you mean 'trained for'?" Wes asked.

"I shouldn't talk about it, the less people know the better," Double D said looking up. His friends were small dots and growing smaller. Terry probably wanted to go higher this time. "You're not even supposed to know that we exist as something other than human, by which we're not. Dev exposing his wings was an accident or an emergency at best. I gotta admit though, it's nice to have things out in the open rather than cramped up under a shirt." He stood there for a few moments watching his friends plummet to their possible deaths but it was all in good, daredevil fun. When they were about halfway through the fall Double D looked around with a hand to his ear. "Do you hear that?"

"What?" Wes asked.

"Buzzing," Double D said when it hit him, literally. Out of nowhere a net caught him in the back knocking him forward and getting tangled as he hit the ground. Immediately after he managed to grab a swiss army knife from his pocket and yanked through the rope. After he threw the net off him and stood up he ducked as a laser tried to go through his head. When he looked for his attacker he found a five foot bird. "Crap."

"Hey, it's that thing that broke Dev's wing!" Wes exclaimed.

Double D grabbed for his back pocket but remembered the police station had taken his gun as a 'precaution for the safety of the public', and the hospital had taken Dev's gun hostage as well.

The robot advanced like a predator moving towards prey.

"Wes, get everyone out of here," the experiment ordered, then ducked as another net came his way. It flew over his head and wrapped around a tree trunk. Sure that his friends would figure it out, Double D almost tripped as he ran out of the park heading for the police department.

_What am I, a primary target? _Double D thought as he ran down the street, the bird not far behind. He knew he could fly faster but he preferred to learn from other's mistakes when it came to breaking wings. _Man what I wouldn't give to be like Alex just for a minute. I bet her broken bones heal in an hour, tops! How come she got all the good abilities? Well… I am older than her, is that why I'm so responsible? My personality was taught to- _"Ah!" he exclaimed, thoughts interrupted as he jumping behind a parked car to escape a laser that tried to take his head.

"Do you want to capture me or kill me?!" he yelled at the robot as another round of lasers shot for his body. He barely dodged and whacked his shoulder on the side of a building when he turned the corner too sharply. The police station was just down the street from where he was. Too bad he never got there.

Apparently the bird decided to do a more physical tactic, which involved running the 'teenager' over with its heavy, metal body. Double D rolled across the cement at the sudden impact. When he finally stopped he wasn't moving.

The bird came forward and grabbed the part of the experiment's shirt between the wings with its talons and started to take off. As it did gunshots were heard. The bird looked down to see policemen standing outside the station as bullets bounced off its body. In its eyes the mere humans didn't pose much of a threat so the mechanical bird just continued onward with its captive, though it didn't leave without dropping a 'present'.

On the ground humans scattered as a bomb dropped from the robot. It exploded on impact with the ground, giving off enough force that the windows of nearby shops shattered, and the doors to the police station where blown completely off their hinges.

Back at the park Dev and Terry weren't having much luck with the robots that appeared out of nowhere. The fact that neither of them were carrying weapons on their person wasn't very helpful either. In the air they were able to dodge more easily, and Dev had learned to make sure there was nothing above or behind him at all times, but these factors only allowed them to last longer. The ending was inevitable when they felt a small pain flare up from the side of their necks.

Dev slapped a hand to his neck and grasped something. Pulling it out of his skin he brought the thing up to his eyes. It was a dart. When he realized just what it was the tranquilizer kicked in and he found it harder to beat his wings, or stay awake for that matter. In his last few moments of consciousness he found Terry struggling too.

With a final swear Dev's wings went numb and he started falling towards Earth. After that- nothing.

...--... ...--... ...--... ...--... ...--... ...--... ...--...

A webbed hand went to an empty stomach. _Uhh… so hungry… _Dark eyes darted through the depths below him but didn't see anything. _Oh come on! I was being tailed by whole schools of fish just an hour ago!_ He checked his diver's watch. _Oh my bad, an hour _**and a half **_ago! I just had to leave Japan… I'm gonna miss the sushi, I am._

The boy shook his head as he floated idly ten feet below the surface of the Pacific Ocean. After scoping around him one last time he gave a sigh that was nothing more than a patch of bubbles. Following the bubbles his head broke surface. Looking around he swam for a small boat that was really nothing more than a wide, boxy fishing boat with a mast. With a sigh he climbed in over the edge and sucked the dorsal fin into his back before it dried.

Turning the dark stripes on his back to the sun he leaned over the side and pulled up on net.

"Let's see…" Stripes muttered to himself. "I got five fish saved up from last night. That's two for breakfast, one for lunch, and two for dinner. But for now…" He reached into the net and pulled one of the wiggling fish out in a careful but strong grip so it couldn't wiggle free. Dropping the net back into the water he pulled a cutting board from under one of the seats and a knife from his trusty backpack. "I hate to do this," he said as he raised the knife. "I like it much better when you have a chance to get away, but there's no one downstairs and a guy's gotta eat." With that he brought the knife down. He kept it sharp so it only took one chop. "And now," he held the limp fish body up "breakfast," and his jagged teeth sank in deep.

Half an hour later he could see land through binoculars as a breeze picked up in his favor. Standing up he let his one sail down and it filled enough to push the one passenger boat forward. At this rate he expected to reach the coast by mid-afternoon.

"The mighty captain stands at the helm as the powers of nature bend to his every will- and I have _got _to stop talking to myself. I've been doing that more and more lately. I must be getting lone- _stop it_!" A few moments ticked by as Stripes stood powerfully beside his main - and only - mast. "Yes, the sea stretched out not daring to hold up a wave against me and my ship, the wind blowing in my favor as always."

Then, as if to prove him wrong, the wind suddenly changed directions and blew west instead of east.

"What- wait- no, oh come on!" Stripes exclaimed as he quickly took the sail down before he was blown the wrong way. "I'm sorry!" he yelled out to the elements but he was getting a scolding. "Fine," he said to no one. "I don't need no stupid wind, I'll pull myself."

With a toe line tied comfortably around his waist he dove back into the sea and continued forward despite what the wind wanted.

...--...

The small boat drifted by itself on the surface as the sun started to set, the rope that was normally tied around the experiment's waist so he could pull the vessel drifting loosely in the water. As the sun set the boat remained unmanned as it continued to drift in the calm seas while a few miles away, closer to the coast, a fishing boat lay anchored with its nets cast.

Underneath these boats, and to his great embarrassment, Stripes struggled against the netting, and upside down no less! First he had been chasing after a school of fish in hopes for a feast and hadn't noticed the nets until he almost ran face first into them. He had backed up knowing what the nets were for, but backing up only made things worse. First his arm had gotten tangled; as he kicked trying to yank free his ankle got caught also.

Then he remembered he had a mouth full of knives, and, feeling stupid, started to gnaw through the ropes. But before he could make a big enough hole the nets started to be lifted. By the time there was enough room to shove his shoulders through he was already in the air and among the catch of the day.

He watched below as the sea was lifted away from him and was replaced by the deck of a boat as the net was swung by a crane. The net was dropped and the experiment would have been out of the net and over the side if it wasn't for the fact he fell head first and banged his skull on the deck leaving him dazed, sprawled among the flopping fish. Though he was conscious enough to hear and vaguely understand voices.

"What the hell is that?!"

"I don't think it's a fish."

"Of course it's not a fish you idiot!"

"What's going on here?"

"I think we caught a boy."

"That ain't no boy, see the stripes and the fin!"

"What if it's a mermaid?"

"It's not a mermaid, it don't have a chest and mer_maids_ are female you idiot."

"Well it's a mer-something it's got webbing and everything."

"Is it dead?"

"Let's turn it over, you know, see if it's breathing."

Razor was aware of roughly being pushed onto his side, it being impossible to lie on his back with his dorsal fin still sticking out. He groaned at the movement, the beginnings of a headache starting up.

"It's alive!"

"I wonder where its gills are…"

"It's what?"

"You know _gills _so it can breathe underwater."

"Do merfolk even have gills?"

Stripes groaned against at the pulsing pain coming from his head. The voices weren't helping anything and neither was the hard ground pushing against his hipbone. He put a hand to his skull and heard the three who had caught him stumble back at the movement.

"It _is _alive!"

"We've already established that!"

Stripes opened his eyes and had to blink a few times before he could focus. Looking around he found three fishermen. There was a big guy with bright red hair and a beard that hid his chin. A more slender one wearing a baseball cap that hid his eyes from the sun, and third man was bald with a farmer's tan and big hands.

Sitting up must not have been confirmed as a dangerous action since the fishermen hadn't reacted. They just stood there.

Ignoring the men, Stripes rubbed his head and flinched as he hit a bruise. The flinch was accompanied by a sharp intake of breath made by him parting his lip and flashing jagged teeth.

At the sight of the mouth full of knives the slender guy saw a threat and grabbed the closest thing to him: a smaller net, while the red haired man grabbed a knife from his pocket. Stripes reacted instinctively to more nets and blades. He jumped to his feet and pulled his hunting knife that had been tied to the side of his pants. But before any actual fighting or escaping could be made, the third fisherman snuck up behind him with a wrench.

One minute Stripes is thinking how fast he could jump over the edge of the boat, the next there's an explosion of pain in the back of his skull, bright stars in his eyes as he felt his legs buckle, then the sun suddenly turned off.

...--... ...--... ...--... ...--... ...--... ...--... ...--...

BOOM!

A rare smile.

KA-BOOM!!

An endangered chuckle.

A different halfhearted smile on another's face.

_If you don't like explosions tell him. I think I'm more than responsible enough to watch both of us. _The five-year-old sat leaning against a tree enjoying the smell of real air, the sights of the sky and earth, the feel of grass, dirt, leaves between his hands. The sights, the sounds, the smells of what freedom has to offer, it would be impossible for him to take these things for granted. And it was even better to know everyone else was getting the chance to enjoy these things, and he was enjoying it right now with two friends, though the peace of the country was occasionally disturbed by a loud noise, a shake of the ground, and a large smoke cloud.

"I don't like them Psych, they're so loud and destructive," Eli admitted from her perch on a low tree branch. "But they put a smile on Bomber's face, and he's not happy like that very often, and he does a lot for us."

If he could, Psych would be smiling. _It's so hard to live with those that try so hard to keep the other happy… _he thought privately to himself.

When the last experimental bomb was blown and the smoke started to clear the dark skinned thirteen-year-old started to pick up the trash from the scorched ground. After packing the remains of the bombs created from everyday household chemicals into the box they came in he stuffed a notebook down his pocket and picked the box up. Carrying the box in two of his four arms he went over to his smaller companions.

_Those last few were pretty impressive considering they were made from floor cleaner and hairspray, _Psych commented as he stood up and brushed twigs from his oversized scarf.

"Yeah, but I'm trying to create a bomb with less smoke," Bomber said, looking back at his practice field. "I swear a rescue team would be able to find that over the trees. And I could do with a little less stink."

"I wasn't going to say anything," Eli said, jumping down from the branch and playfully scrunched up her nose. "But now that you mention it…"

"Alright," Bomber said. "Come on before it gets dark." He held a free hand out to Psych. The small boy took it and was lifted up onto Bomber's shoulders. _How are you doing? _Bomber pushed the thought out as they started walking back to their place hidden among the clump of woods.

_I'm not as tired as I used to be, _Psych admitted as they walked between the tree trunks._ The exercise of being out in the world has been better for me than I thought, but we both know I'm slowing down, and so do the older experiments. I can't give a specific time, but everything has an expiration date._

_Let's keep this from Eli, okay? _Bomber said as he watched the girl skip and dance around like the little girl she was made to look like.

The sun was setting when they reached what was to be called home. It was an abandoned hunting cabin set beside a river that the three had taken over when they decided to just drop where they had gotten in Tennessee. The nearest town was ten miles away. Eli wasn't happy when they stole the pickup truck, but it was either that or find somewhere else to live. The laptop they used to communicate with old friends was stolen also, along with the chip that allowed it to find internet no matter where they were, but everything else was earned by decree of Eli's happiness.

They had bought a camping grill for cooking and the two beds weren't bad when they had cleaned them of bugs, dirt, dust, and some unmentionables. They fished when they could, Bomber had learned how to set traps, and Eli was becoming a vegetable gardener when the season was right. It was a quaint life and pretty quiet except for Bomber's bombs.

When they got home Psych grilled hotdogs, Bomber was stuck folding laundry with it being the weekly wash day, and Eli made the beds when the sheets were taken from the clothes line.

When dinner was ready they ate at an old wooden table. Bomber did the dishes afterward while Eli and Psych changed for bed. There was a whole sink of plates, cups and silverware to clean since they had waited for a week to get soapy. Even with two pairs of hands to speed things along Bomber still hated the dishes.

The sink was sitting in front of the window so he had the darkening trees to look at while he splashed himself with soapy water. That's when he saw it: two red dots in the bushes across the river.

With suspiciously narrow eyes he put the plate he was drying down, wiped his hands on his overalls and went to the front door. Grabbing the shotgun he had received from a friend from town he carefully went around the corner of the building.

_Bomber?_

_Psych, get yours and Eli's shoes on._

_What is it?_

_I don't know yet…_

As the world around him gradually grew darker Bomber kept his eyes on the red lights in the bushes. As night shifted into place the lights stood out more. Using the color as a pair of bull's-eyes he lifted the gun.

"Who's there?" he called across the river.

In response a broad red light shot out. It wasn't harmful as it passed over his head and moved down. It got just below his shoulders when Bomber realized it was scanning him. In reflex to the thought he shot the gun. It gave off a thunderous clap, causing Eli to jump and Psych to throw her a pair of pants to put under her nightgown.

The bullet noticeably ricocheted off the metal body from the sparks that appeared. In retaliation to the attack the owner of the red lights shot back with quick beams of light.

"Shit!" Bomber exclaimed as he jumped to dodge and ran back for the front door. Jumping to the ground with the popping sound of a net being launched. He scrambled back up, turned the corner and slammed the door behind him when he got inside.

"What's going on?" Eli asked in a voice that started to shake.

"Robot," Bomber said simply as he ran into the bedroom and dropped to his knees beside his bed. Reaching underneath he grabbed a metal box and tucked it under an arm.

Feeling the frantic thoughts, Psych didn't have to ask as he reached under his own bed and threw an emergency kit onto his back. _Eli, grab the keys. Bomber you put the laser gun and grenade launcher behind the couch last month._

"What's happening?" Eli asked as she grabbed the truck keys from a peg on the wall.

"I think we've been found," Bomber said as he grabbed the laptop and the charger cord, pushing them into Psych's backpack after grabbing the weapons when the window over the sink suddenly shattered. "Psych, get you and Eli to the truck and start it, I'll be right there."

Psych nodded, grabbed Eli's hand and the two ran out the front door, the ancient five-year-old in the lead. Just as they left a green smoke started to fill the air.

Holding his breath Bomber opened the metal box, pulled out a wrapped package with a timer on it and turned it on, soon after a huge metallic bird jumped in from the window, landing beside the gas canister.

Bomber quickly backed up from the robot, heading towards the door. The huge bird came towards him as the numbers on the bomb timer flashed 00:05. Just as the robot walked by the bomb Bomber jumped out the door, quickly after the explosion was set off and there was a scream.

Looking around after getting knocked to the ground by the force of the explosion he found another metal bird illuminated by the floodlights set on top of the pickup. It was lifting up off the ground and Bomber scrambled forward at seeing who was caught in its sharp talons.

"Bomber!" Eli screamed desperately as her kicking feet unwillingly left the ground.

The explosive specialist raised the laser gun, but he couldn't bring himself to shoot it, not trusting himself not to hit the girl. When he finally thought he could pull the trigger it was too late, the robot had lifted out of the light and quickly out of range.

Bomber fell to his knees not believing he had just done nothing, watched Eli go just like that without a single shot. Then he heard his name again, but this time from inside his mind. He looked around and saw another dark mass big enough to be the same kind of robot. Getting up he ran towards the thing as it started to lift up, a small body in its clutches.

Through nothing but anger, and not even thinking about the possibility of hitting the captive, he shot the thing out of the air. It dropped its cargo on the first shot, the body falling only five feet. Psych quickly scrambled out of the way on landing. From there Bomber just shot the thing without mercy, his finger rapidly hitting the trigger like it was going through a muscle spasm. Finally he lowered the gun with the dark mass of sparking machinery lying in front of him, and the cabin that had caught fire from the explosion sitting behind him.

_Bomber, I'm sorry…_

The younger of the two just stood there.

Psych got to his feet and went to him. _I should have done something, it's not your fault - you didn't want to hit her. It's perfectly understandable. _He shoved his pale hand into Bomber's dark one. _Come on, we need to get out of here. We've been found, more robots will come. There's no use standing around here, and we'll find her, Bomber, I promise._

Without a word Bomber was led to the truck. Psych escorted him to the driver's seat, then went around front and climbed into the passenger's.

Feeling like a worthless idiot Bomber drove off; leaving their quaint, simple life they had worked to build for almost two years behind.

First they drove to the town (but not before going into reverse to run over what was left of the broken robot bird). The friend he had made that had given him the shotgun owned the local bar. The man was the only one Bomber could show his true four-armed self to. He had gotten a job working in back, and helped close up when everyone left. Sometimes he had helped to throw some late drunk out, the drunk too far in his stupor to be able to remember the extra limbs. Now Bomber was asking for his last paycheck before leaving to find Eli.

"Where you planin' on goin'?"

"I don't know," Bomber shrugged. "But we gotta get out of here. The cabin's destroyed and Eli's been kidnapped. I really don't know where to start, but I feel something pulling me towards New York."

"Well good luck kid."

Bomber stopped in front of the door. The thirteen-year-old turned around. "Kid? Man, I'm twenty-two."

...--...

Psych sat quietly in the passenger seat of the pickup. It wasn't like he could make a lot of sound anyway. They had driven most of the night, only stopping when Psych explained that they needed rest or risk Bomber falling asleep at the wheel and crashing. When they did stop it was in a motel parking lot, but they just slept in the truck, neither really in the mood to lie to the people at the counter and convince them they weren't just a couple of runaways. Most of the time motel staff never really gave a care, but there was always that _one _person… They just didn't risk it.

Watching the country roll by as the sun rose, Psych could practically feel the irritation, frustration, and growing anger radiate off the driver. His friend's mind was so scattered he didn't have to try to read the thoughts. It was like glancing at an open book, catching random letters and words without truly looking at the page.

If any of the experiments were capable of having real family (besides Razor, but that was in the past) it was Bomber acting like Eli's protective, older brother - the one that would kick the crap out of a person for getting on his nerves, then turn around and help plant flowers in a garden if Eli asked him to.

The radio was turned off, but neither reached to turn it on. Eli was usually the one that sat in middle when the three went for a car ride, and she was always the one that picked the station to listen to.

Now the only sound to be heard was that of wheels rolling on the interstate and the engine as it pushed them forward. Between the silence, doing nothing, and sitting around so much metal old habits started to return. A few minutes later Psych had unbuckled his seatbelt, scooted sideways and lay down, using Bomber's leg as a pillow.

The driver glanced down for a moment before flicking his eyes back to the road. Laying the atlas face down on his other leg he put his bottom right hand on Psych's shoulder.

_We'll find her you know… _Psych said as his eyes started to close.

"Yeah I know," Bomber muttered, fist tightening around the steering wheel. "I'm just pissed that she needs to be found."

...--... ...--... ...--... ...--... ...--... ...--... ...--...

"Sir, the robots have managed to locate and capture some of the experiments," a lowly scientist reported. He wasn't real important; he just kept tabs of the vital signs of experiments while they were still in the developing vats. At the moment, with no new experiments being made he had turned into an errand boy and a mere messenger.

The head scientist smiled. "Very good. A few is all we need at the moment. Which ones?"

"Currently in our position are three air soldiers and a scout. And we're working on the captivity of an aquatic soldier found by some fishermen off the coast of California."

"Any bomb engineers?"

"We've located one so far where we found the scout. But he managed to escape us in a black truck."

"I want him as soon as possible."

"Uh- Yes sir."

"And what of the ones still in the city?"

"We've located them, but…"

"_But_?"

"Well, they fought back harder than we expected. The attempted capture was a… complete failure."

"And now they're sure to be expecting us for the next attack, correct?"

"Uh- I would assume so."

"The best enemy is unexpected. Very well, we'll wait for their guard to lower to the point they nearly forget about things."

"What should we do with the captured?"

"Keep them separated but don't do anything in the ways of punishing just yet."

"Yes sir."

* * *

(while hiding underneath the desk with laptop) Okay, I better make this quick before I have a small mob of expirements on my back. I think Terry's already started digging my grave...

While I have the time I'll say I didn't mean for this chapter to be as long as it was, but I have a thing for giving too much detail sometimes. I guess that's a good thing. Oh, and I warned you guys that this chapter wouldn't involve my usual main characters. At least I was to my word on that. But I had to start to move things along, and I had to hurry up and heal Dev so I needed a time leap too. I'm guessing this would be... two weeks after they met Jack? Yeah, I think that's right. I'll confirm it in the next chapter.

Oh, and though i haven't said in the last couple chapters, I'm still grateful **Puldoh** and **ChibiLover123** for reviewing, at least _some people are showing that they're reading... hint hint... _But I'm not going to start begging and I gotta go, I think I hear wings flapping and footsteps coming my way. So I'll end this as always:

REVIEW!


	9. Ninja's Day Out

**Chapter Eight**

**Ninja's Day Out**

Muffled beeps escaped the pillow and a pair of blue eyes snapped open. Fumbling hands finally found the switch and turned the alarm clock off. Picking the pillow up he looked at the glowing red numbers: 6:00AM.

_I can't believe I'm doing this… _where the only words that went through his mind as he slowly crawled out of the bed, pressing his lips together to hold back a yelp when he stood on an action figure from his preteens.

Being more careful this time, he felt along the floor with his feet until he reached a chair he had put to the side the day before and got dressed in the dark. Grabbing a flashlight that was also placed on the chair he looked at himself in the farthest corner from the door so no light could leak out.

_Not bad for a first time… _he thought after finding out his shirt was on backwards, his pants were inside out (_so that's why I couldn't button them…)_ and his socks were on the wrong feet. That's when he realized how tired he must have been when he realized that socks couldn't be on the wrong feet.

After correcting his clothing he looked at himself again. It was his favorite… set of clothes (_it's not an outfit!)_: a brown T-shirt that had green longer sleeves sewed on so it looked like he was wearing a second shirt, comfortable, worn jeans with a ripped knee from the time when he was ambushed by the Foot a few months ago, now that he looked at the rip he kind of liked the look. After combing his hair with fingers he put his orange mask on like how he used to wear it when he was five with the cloth completely covering most of his blond hair, though he rolled the front up so the eye holes didn't show.

After flexing in the mirror he walked out of the room, only to turn back and grabbed a wallet stashed inside his pillowcase. It had a few hundred bucks that he had been saving from the time his genius-of-a-brother suggest he get a day job. It wasn't really hard for someone of seventeen, especially at restaurants, though he went through a few of them. Each job lasted for a few good paychecks, but then _something_ happened. Like the time he worked at the Pizza Pit. It wasn't his fault when he tripped on his shoelace, fell back and hit the pot of cooking sauce. It toppled to the floor and made a mess. His family had assured him he was lucky not to get burned, but his boss hadn't been so caring. Or the time where he worked register for Game Stop. It wasn't his fault he got confused sometimes on counting back change. That boss was strict too and he was fired after his drawer came up short for the twenty-fourth time, or was it the forty-second?

Shaking his head he thought, _I'm just not all that great with responsibility… _With a sigh he shook his head again, determined not to let anything ruin this day. It started as an idea after he stayed up long enough to see Raph come walking in from a night off by himself. He still found it suspicious that whenever Raph went out something about the Nightwatcher appeared on the news the next morning.

_What a minute… _He looked at the ceiling as he thought it over. Realization suddenly hit him. "They must be friends!" he whispered. "Cool."

He shook his head again, figuring he needed to get going before Donnie woke up. If anyone woke up his plans wouldn't work. Taking the flashlight out with him, he tiptoed past the couch, which held two sleeping forms, the little five-year-old body refusing to sleep anywhere else, and the teen entered the kitchen. He tore a paper from the pad usually used for grocerie lists, wincing at the sound that seemed to be magnified by the silence of everyone else sleeping, and scribbled something that could be translated into words if one squinted and tilted their head just so.

After leaving the note in front of the coffee maker the teen hurried back into his room, grabbed a skateboard, and headed out of the lair. He returned five minutes later realizing he wasn't wearing shoes.

...--... ...--... ...--... ...--... ...--... ...--... ...--...

Don woke up around 8:30. It was almost a month since the robot bird attack. When they were sure nothing was going to hunt them down at the moment they had returned to the lair and introduced Master Splinter to their new friend. Of course, upon introduction Jack had cowered behind Razor's back. But after some time he got used to everyone around him and didn't seem so on edge, though he still jumped at any unexpected event.

Things had started to return to normal - or as normal as they could get anyway. With the help of Gorf, Don managed to create a solution to Alex and Razor's tranquilizer problem and they were happy to reclaim the ability to walk.

Don had also found how fun it was to be able to share thoughts and ideas that were closely related to his interests with ones that were on his intellectual level - not that he thought his family wasn't smart by any means, but it was common knowledge that he was the electrical brain of the family and he liked talking to the 'brainy experiments' over the internet on the site Gorf had found with Doc's help.

With a yawn he went to the kitchen to start his morning coffee. As always, Razor woke up when the lights turned on. It had passed through Don's mind before that maybe what Razor's eyes appeared to be were true: maybe he didn't have any irises, just large pupils. Since the iris is connected to the muscles that cause the pupil to grow and contract depending on the surrounding light, the absence of irises would explain why Razor was so sensitive to sudden changes of light, especially fast blinking like that of a strobe light.

The topic was interesting as he waited for the coffee to brew, but he figured not to ask Razor as he got off the couch, the experiment becoming skilled in getting up without rousing Jack. In truth, Don wasn't sure if Razor even knew the point behind the iris, other than giving a person an 'eye color'.

Giving a wide yawn, Razor stretched and opened the fridge. "You know Don," he said, reaching in and withdrawing a rather large metal bowl, the opening covered with a layer of tinfoil. "You're becoming a really reliable alarm clock. God forbid I sleep in just once," he said jokingly while jumping up to sit on the counter, the bowl in his lap.

"What's that?" Don asked.

Razor pulled the tinfoil off to reveal a mass of tan, sticky paste dotted with black lumps. The shark scooped some of it up with a finger. "Cookie dough," he said simply and stuck the finger in his mouth.

"Cookie dough, when'd you make cookie dough- wait, you can't have that for breakfast!"

"Too late," Razor said happily and was about to stick his finger back in the uncooked sweets when he stopped. "Oh wait," he reached down beside his leg and pulled a spoon from a drawer "no double dips. Kind of gross I guess." After the first couple of spoonfuls he caught Don's disappointed look. He held the bowl out with the spoon hanging out of his mouth. "Want some?"

"No thanks," Don sighed and commenced pouring himself a cup of coffee. "You do know though, that all the raw eggs in uncooked dough give you a risk of catching Salmonellosis."

Razor faltered a moment, looking down at the possible the unhealthiest breakfast, perhaps reconsidering. But then he simply shrugged, said "I think I'll risk it," and stuck the spoon back in his mouth.

With another sigh Don grabbed a newspaper from the counter in one hand, his coffee cup in the other hand, and sat down at the table.

There were a few moments of silence before Razor jumped down from the counter, hugging his so-called-breakfast, and headed out of the kitchen with an extra spoon. "I bet Mikey will appreciate my fine dining."

After rolling his eyes, Don saw Leo walk into the kitchen over the top of the headlines. Moments later Razor reentered the kitchen.

"What's that?" Leo asked.

"Uncooked chocolate chip cookies," Razor said and held out the extra spoon. "Want some?"

"Uh- no thanks," Leo said.

Razor shrugged. "More for me, then. Hey, have you guys seen Mikey?"

"No, why?" Leo asked.

"He's usually asleep until later, unless it's Saturday of course," Don said.

Razor pointed over his shoulder at said turtle's room. "I was just there to see if he wanted any. He's not in bed."

"I don't know where he'd be," Leo shrugged and turned to the cupboards to start a box of morning tea when he noticed a paper by the coffee maker. He picked it up.

"What's that?" Razor asked.

Leo easily read through it, used to the messy handwriting:

_Don-_

_Went out in the city for the day, if your reading this I'm already gone. Don't tell Leo if he's in a bad mood for some reason (probably because of Raph), and keep Alex and Razor on the couch, I'm sure I can handle myself for a couple hours. And put the Shell Cell down, I don't need you telling Gorf to hunt me down, I'm not a baby anymore. I got the to fend for myself on food, I've thought this through. Oh, and don't let Leo or sinsay blame Raph either, I thought of this on my own!_

_I'll be back tonight, no worries, right? (hey, that kind of rhymed!)_

_Anyway, see ya later,_

_Mikey_

_P.S. say morning to Jack for me!_

"Lemme see," Razor said through his spoon and grabbed at the note. "Ah, our 'il Mikey's growin' up," he said when he read through it and passed it to Don.

"Are we really that predictable?" Don wondered aloud when he put the paper down.

"What's goin' on?" a tired mumble said as a tail dragged sleepily across the floor. Without even looking at him she grabbed the bowl from Razor, took the clean spoon and plopped down at the table.

"Mikey's gone," Don informed.

"Huh," Alex mumbled and stuck some dough in her mouth. It took a few more spoonfuls for it to actually hit her. "What?"

"Mikey. Is. Now. Gone," Razor said slowly, sticking his own spoon into the dough. "He. Left. Before. We. Got. Up. Under. Stand?"

"Here," Don said, handing her the note.

"You okay?" Leo asked.

"Didn't sleep too well - now I'll never trust a clown with apples in rainbow pants," Alex sighed and had to blink a couple times before her eyes could focus on the writing while the three guys in the room looked at each other, wondering just what the dream had been about. "Ooooooooooooohhhhhh…" Alex said after a moment.

"What do you mean, 'oh'?" Leo asked.

"He said something a few months ago about goin' out on his own for a day."

Leo and Don shared a look. "He did?" they asked together.

Alex swallowed more dough. "Yeah," she said with a heavy nod and looked at their bewildered faces. "Uh- he told me anyway."

...--... ...--... ...--... ...--... ...--... ...--... ...--...

Michelangelo was having fun as he shredded down the sidewalk on his trusty skateboard, music blaring in his ears. The day was young and he thought he had gotten a pretty good start. The beginning was kind of boring since nowhere was open that was worth going to, but it was cool to watch the sunrise. Now, after having a good breakfast of pancakes that were as big as his plate, scrambled eggs, a blueberry muffin, bacon, sausage, and milk he was headed to Central Park. His waitress didn't think he could eat it all, he showed her.

Even though it was early morning on a Friday, and he had been human and going topside openly for a while, it amazed him how many people that were in the streets. He didn't know how the school systems worked, and judging by the amount of people his age and younger, he guessed school was out today. He swerved through pedestrians, getting a couple angry glares at his back though he never actually hit anyone.

After cruising through the sidewalks for a while it was almost 10:00 when he reached the park. There were people scattered across the grass and walkways. Though it was early Mikey felt compelled to get an ice cream. When he was almost done with it he was walking across the grass when someone yelled "Look out!"

He turned his head just in time to see a purple blur coming right for his head. He leaned back and grabbed at it, catching the Frisbee as it passed. Directly after there was a bark, a yellow blur knocked him on his back and he was attacked by something wet.

"Goldy, no!" the same voice yelled and a pair of people came running over. "I'm so sorry, she usually doesn't jump on people," the person said when the Golden Retriever was pulled off of him. It was a couple of young adults, a guy and a young woman, probably still in college. "Bad girl," the guy scolded the dog.

"It's okay," Mikey said laughingly, rubbing his cheek on his sleeve. "Uh, this yours?" he asked, holding up the purple Frisbee.

"Are you okay?" the young woman asked, holding a hand out to help him up.

He took it and got to his feet. "I'm fine, really. She was just congratulating me on catching it, weren't you?" Mikey asked the energetic dog, scratching it behind the ears. When he straightened the dog barked at him, jumping up onto its hind legs. Realizing he was still holding the Frisbee, he let it fly. After plenty of ninja training, and though he never used them, he had somewhat mastered the air of star throwing, which was like throwing the plastic disk, the Frisbee went straight and low. With a delighted bark the dog chased after it without a care in the world.

"Sorry again," the young man said before the pair chased after the large dog before it knocked someone else over.

With an amused smile Mikey continued on his way, leaving the ice cream that he had dropped on the ground charitably to the ants. As he walked across the grass he thought through the list of things he wanted to do for the day. At the moment all he knew he wanted to do was go to the skate park and get lunch. Those plans sounded good.

When he was almost out of the park he passed a couple kids standing around a tree. The oldest one was maybe twelve, who was a tugging on a string, the group's faces full of disappointment as they looked at the tree branches.

"You're gonna rip it!" one of the younger ones exclaimed.

Mikey went over to them. "What happened?" he asked.

The oldest pointed up at the tree. "Our kite got stuck and we can't get it down."

Mikey turned his gaze upwards and sure enough found a bright red kite trapped in the taller branches. Looking at the trunk of the tree, most of the lower branches had been cut off to prevent people from climbing up them. Like that was going to stop this ninja. "I can get that," he said.

"Really?" a few of them asked like they finally found a ray of hope.

"Yeah," Mikey said, slipping off his shoes. Since throughout most his life he went without wearing shoes, he found climbing trees easier shoeless. "Just leave it to the Mike-ster!" he said, pointing a thumb at his chest and turned to the kite stealing tree. He jumped at the trunk and started climbing up it. The bark scratched at his feet and palms but he kept his grip, and the scratchiness wasn't exactly painful. When he reached the lowest branch he pulled himself up onto it and looked down. Little faces peered up at him hopefully. With a confident smile he turned his eyes upward and searched for the patch of red. The kite was a ways up, at the end of some of the smaller branches, but he was sure he could get it.

Keeping his eyes locked on the kite so he didn't lose sight of it he started up the tree. At some points he had to twist at hard angles so he could reach the next branch, but he finally neared the same level as the kite. From where he was he could see what the problem was: the string had wrapped around the branch. He was forced to inch out onto the end of the branch underneath the kite so he could free the string.

It was stuck tight. _How do things like this happen on accident anyway? _he wondered. _Its like knots that make themselves are always the hardest to undo._

After some very slow moments he was starting to get the string away from the branch.

_CRACK!_

The sudden sound almost made him lose his balance. Grabbing onto the branch above him he looked around for the source. Following the sound of small, quieter crackles he located the sound to the tree trunk, and noticed his narrow ground was starting to tilt - the branch was breaking.

"Uh-oh…"

With a final _crack_ the branch fell out from under him. He barely saved himself by grabbing onto the branch overhead. There were a few moments of him dangling there when there was another _CRACK!_

"Really?" he asked the branch before that one, too, snapped and gravity ruled.

The fall was a blur of green and brown until he started to hit the thicker branches, he seemed to hit every branch on the way down until finally the last branch to the ground snagged on his pants and he was stuck hanging upside down. Soon after the branch that had snapped fell to the ground with the kite still tied to it, incredibly the kite was unscathed whereas the body was going to have some sore spots in the morning.

"See?" Mikey said, already feeling the bruises start on his battered body. "Told'ja I'd get it."

"Are you okay?" one of the kids asked.

Mikey opened his mouth to answer when his pants ripped and he fell the rest of the way to the ground, landing on his head. He sprang to his feet before anyone could say anything. "I'm okay!" he said, even though he was a little off balanced.

Two of the kids picked the fallen branch up and finished untangling the kite.

"Thanks mister!" one of them exclaimed before running off and the other quickly followed.

Rubbing his head Mikey smiled at his helpfulness and continued on his way to the skate park.

...--...

"Hey you!" a voice called through the distinct sound of plastic wheels rolling across cement. "You with the orange bandana!"

Mikey stopped at the top of a half pipe looking around. He caught sight of someone standing beside the half pipe. It was a guy around sixteen wearing a dark blue ball cap backwards over dark hair, a pair of headphones hung around his neck while a jacket clung to his waist. After looking for anyone else that could be wearing orange Mikey pointed to himself.

"Yeah you, come here!"

Picking his skateboard up, Mikey slid down the half pipe and jumped to the ground curious on what this person wanted. "Yeah?" he asked when he was standing in front of the one that called him.

The guy turned around and started walking away. "Follow me," he said simply over his shoulder.

With a shrug Mikey followed, though he brushed a hand against his side to feel the familiar mix of pole and chain sitting within the waistband of his pants when he saw he was being led across the street from the skate park and into a shaded alley. He was wearing a backpack that he picked up before he left home - not sure why he would need it exactly but decided the extra big pocket could come in handy - but he preferred his weapons be closer to his body.

When he got to where he was going he was glad for his weapons being at his sides because as soon as he was led past a dumpster he was grabbed from behind. Reflex took over as he thrust an elbow back to push the air out of whoever it was so he was let go, then whipped around and put an arm up to deflect a punch. Turning to the side he delivered a kick to the gut knocking what little air was left out of the lungs causing the attacker to fall to the ground.

_See bros? I can take care of myself… _he pushed the thought out to his family.

"Whoa," the guy that led him into the alley said, lifting a hand to clasp the ninja's shoulder, but must have thought better of it as he hesitated. It could have been the sudden reflexes, or the look of sudden mistrust Mikey was sending him. "Where'd you learn to fight like that?" the guy asked, putting his hand back down.

_It may have been a fluke, or planned. Don't take that kind of risk with a stranger, especially while alone. Get out of there, _Mikey could practically here Leonardo's voice tell him and started to back up from him. "I take classes," he said truthfully, heading back for the street, the sunlight, the open public. "Hey dude, I'm late for lunch, I gotta go." That wasn't exactly a lie either, it was nearing noon and he was getting hungry.

"I just have a few guys that want to meet you, I don't even know this guy," the skater kid assured. "It's nothing bad. We were really impressed with how you can shred the pipes. Come on, the hideout's just in here," he said, walking a few more feet down the alley and opened the side door to a building.

Mikey hesitated a moment. Nothing sounded relatively threatening, though he was being invited into an unknown building by an unknown person.

The guy didn't look like an undercover Foot ninja.

As he thought about it he sensed an attack coming up behind him. Ducking down he was able to dodge a metal pipe. Thrusting a leg up, he jumped and spun, kicking the same one that attacked him across the face. The kick spun the man around where he landed on the ground. Conscious or not, he didn't move to get back up.

"Down boy," he said, pointing at the attacker's back. "Now stay."

"Come on," the skater boy urged encouragingly. "I know they'll _really _be glad to meet you after those awesome moves you pulled."

He stood there another moment, then, against Leo's distinct voice inside his head, took a step towards the door. But the wanting to show his family that he could take care of himself while by himself made him hesitate when he noticed how dark it was inside the building.

Deciding the Leo that had somehow got planted inside his brain was right, Mikey was about to finally say no to the skater, but before he could even get the words up his throat he received a hard shove from behind making him stumble into darkness. There was the sound of the door slamming shut behind him as he tripped and landed on his hands and knees in total darkness. There was the sound of his skateboard clattering across the cement floor.

_Smooth… _he thought sarcastically to himself when a dim light was turned on.

"Now _this _is a sight I like to see," an agonizingly familiar voice said.

Michelangelo stiffened when he found a pair of huge shoes standing in front of him. Raising his gaze he found non other than Hun stepping out of the shadows.

_Aw shell…_

...--... ...--... ...--... ...--... ...--... ...--... ...--...

"Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuunnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnhhhhhhhh…"

"You two deserve it."

"But it _hurrrrrtsssss…_" Alex whimpered pathetically as she and Razor lay on the couch gripping their stomachs, their empty bowl lay on the floor from where it had been dropped.

"Aren't you supposed to be the sympathetic brother?" Razor asked in a similar whimper.

"Not for this," Don said with a shake of the head. Not only did the two have stomachaches from having nothing but cookie dough for breakfast, but the amount they had eaten was what really stole the family's sympathy. It turned out that the quantity of dough in the bowl had been a quadruple batch. Divided between the two experiments they had eaten two complete batches of uncooked cookies. Even Raph had agreed that was a lot.

With the unhealthiest breakfast in the world now gone, the two had been sitting on the couch moaning and groaning in pain for the past couple hours. The moans only increased when Leo came to inform them that when they could bare the pain they had a lot of exercising to do in order to work all that dough off. At the moment it was just a matter of deciding when the groaning of pain ended, and the moaning of procrastination began.

"_Donniiiiiieeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee…_" the two voices pleaded, but the turtle just walked away, knowing that if he stayed exposed to their begging for comfort any longer he was going to cave.

While practicing techniques in his room Leo shook his head yet again at the sounds of pain wafting in through the door. Blocking the voices out a sudden feeling of anxiety hit him. Just like the youngest had predicted, he wasn't very happy about Mike's sudden plan of becoming completely independent, even it was just for the day. He could just see Mikey becoming a well tempered Raph Jr with the constant need to be out on his own. Bad feelings of what could happen had already passed over him earlier that morning, but now the feeling spiked.

Against his brother's wishes he had thought about ways to track Mikey down but with Alex and Razor rendered useless with stomachaches on the couch he knew no one in the lair could go look for the youngest in broad daylight. Jack would be able to blend in perfectly except for the unexplained scar on his face, but he couldn't possibly ask the little kid to go into the city alone, experiment or not, Jack was only a three-year-old. Leo had also thought about calling Gorf, but knew that was a bust because Gorf had told them ahead of time that he would be at the junkyard looking for anything he could salvage to help built his latest invention, including getting a few more cupboards. April and Casey were possibilities, but then he realized he really didn't know where they could start looking, and with Mikey, as old as he was with the money he claimed to have, along with the training of climbing and sneaking into practically any location of his choosing, and the fact that it was a Friday, Mike could literally be anywhere in the city. He had already tried calling Mikey's Shell Cell multiple times, but each time Mike picked up and, before Leo could even draw a breath to say something, said "No" and hung up.

_At least he's answering in some way to say nothing's wrong…_

After a few minutes of continued practice, he finally lowered his swords and looked at the Shell Cell sitting on a shelf.

...--... ...--... ...--... ...--... ...--... ...--... ...--...

"Talk,"

"No." All the practice of not exactly listening to his elders was starting to pay off. Though when he was little Splinter wouldn't tie his hands behind his back, pick him up by the shirt, and smash his back into a brick wall.

"I said talk."

"And I said no," Mikey refused and again was shoved into the wall, this time receiving a few pops from his spine while crushing his left hand.

"Listen you piece of genetically altered shit," Hun said threateningly, pulling Mikey away from the wall by the front of his shirt, holding him up, feet off the ground, so they were somewhat eye to eye. "Tell me where the other turtles along with the damned experiments are before I rip you open and choke you with your own intestines." A threat that Mikey was sure Hun could pull off. The location of the lair was almost shaken out of him when a thought struck him from nowhere.

"I-if you kill me," he said, trying to keep the shake from his voice. "Wouldn't you just throw away you're chance of finding the others?"

Hun became angered at the obvious logic being pointed out and threw the smaller body across the room where he hit the wall head first. He crumpled to the floor, pretty sure a few brain cells hadn't survived the impact - it was probably the fact he couldn't remember his own name for three whole seconds.

Before he could remember how to stand a large hand grabbed him by the shirt once again and lifted him up, pressing him against the wall. With a nasty scowl, Hun lifted his other cinder block of a fist up looking ready to not only knock Mike's lights out but shatter the bulb with it.

Bracing himself Mikey closed his eyes and waited – but nothing came. Cracking an eye open to see what was going on, he heard what everyone else in the room had: the clatter of plastic vibrating across cement.

Eyes turned to a corner where Mikey's backpack, skateboard and nunchucks had been thrown out of reach. When the backpack hit the wall one of the pockets hadn't been closed and the only content was now shaking across the floor. After a moment the Shell Cell stopped moving and started ringing.

One of the Foot ninja that lined the walls, who where the ones that held him down and tied his hands, picked the device up and quickly handed it to Hun, who in turn shoved it in Mikey's face with the simple command "Answer it."

Mikey looked at the man with the face of plain resistance, but knew if he didn't answer his family would probably start to worry about his safety and he was determined not to pull his family into the clutches of the Foot, especially Hun. "My hands," he reminded them after deciding to answer.

Hun reluctantly let him go while the ninja that had retrieved the Shell Cell cut the rope with a concealed blade.

Catching the Shell Cell when it was thrown at his head, Mikey answered it.

"Don't hang up," Leo's voice said through the speaker before Mike could suck in a breath.

Mikey eyed Hun as he turned slightly away like any person would when on the phone. Working to push his voice into a casual tone, Mikey said "Whatever would make you say that?"

"Only the fact that I've called at least twenty-five times today and you haven't said anything more than 'no' every time." There was a sigh on the other end of the line. "With the appearance of a human or not, Mike, the city's dangerous."

"I know," Mikey replied with more meaning behind the two words than his brother knew.

"Sometimes I wonder if you do. Even in the middle of the day… I just don't want you getting hurt."

"I'm happy you care, but you worry too much," Mikey said, watching Hun out of the corner of his eye. The breathing brick wall wasn't looking too happy noticing that his little captive wasn't going to beg for saving from his fellow freaks. "At the rate you're going bro," he continued. "You'll drown in your worry and die younger than you're meant to."

Starting to get angrier about the phone call leading to nowhere Hun started to reach forward.

"Uh- I gotta go – in a theater," Mikey quickly lied and ended the call. He ducked underneath the hands that grabbed for him and jumped between Hun's legs. The Foot ninjas immediately closed in but this time Mikey was ready.

It was already made up in his mind that he wasn't going to stick around and knock each ninja out. Instead he was going to grab his 'chucks and run out the door – it wasn't locked, just hard to get to.

When he got as far as the nunchucks he turned to complete the second half of his extremely vague plan. Fighting solely on defense by blocking and dodging blows Mikey inched his way for the door, making sure to know where Hun was at all times and keep at least two ninjas between the leader and him. The walking wall wasn't hard to keep track of since he was over a head taller than most in the room.

When he was close to the door he knew it was just a matter of getting back into the sunlight. Mikey hadn't thought something like this would have happened during the day, ninjas were 'creatures of the night', they weren't meant to be seen in public. But some of that thinking might have come from the idea that he and his brothers (who were ninjas too obviously) where not allowed topside during the day, and couldn't be in very crowded areas even at night.

Then one of the ninjas decided to accidentally help him. He was standing in front of the door and was trying to figure out how to get through it when a foot suddenly connected with his chest, throwing him backwards and through the door. It burst open and fell into the alley.

At the sound of Hun's yell of anger and frustration Mikey scrambled to his feet and made a mad dash for it. Skidding onto the sidewalk he sped down the street, dodging around the people around him before they had enough time to jump out of the way.

He didn't stop until a good number of blocks away, bursting through the main entrance of a mall. Even then he continued to run until his chest, lungs, and legs ached and he stood slumped against a wall surrounded by people. His head was pounding, his body was bruising from the escape on top of the bruises from climbing that tree, he had lost his skateboard, and he felt stupid and wanted to go home.

After a few minutes of getting his breathing back under control he tried to walk without stumbling through the mall until he reached the food court. Not feeling very hungry for once he just got a bottle of water and sat slumped at a table trying to gather his still scrambled thoughts, keeping his eyes open for anyone that seemed even the least bit dangerous to his health.

After half an hour he decided he might as well stick the rest of the day out. For a few minutes he had watched a mental movie on the possibility of telling his family about getting tricked into meeting Hun. He could see Don checking to see if he had any injuries, Raph wanting revenge (especially on the punk that lured him to the alley), Alex and Razor would probably be on Raph's side, while Leo would team up with Master Splinter saying how foolish it was to go off on his own just like that and say how they should not go looking for fights that would lead to nothing but destruction - all-in-all, Mikey thought it would be less of a headache just to keep the ambush to himself.

Looking around the food court he heard a group of teens talking about some movie. With a little consideration, and checking that he still had his wallet, Mikey stood up, through his empty water bottle away and headed for the theater on the other side of the mall, making sure to stay near large groups of people, but not make it obvious that he was hiding.

When he reached the theater he was just in time for one of the movies. Getting the standard popcorn and soda he went through the film without any life threatening interruptions, except at the end when he thought his bladder was going to explode from the large drink he downed halfway through a two hour movie.

When he walked back out he was feeling better about recent events and looked around for something else to do. Not really trusting to go back outside he headed for an arcade. Some wasted hours, eighty bucks and a Guitar Hero contest later he walked out of the arcade with a bag of candy he got from the numerous tickets he'd collected along with a plastic sword that came up to his waist as a peace offering to Leo. Starting to think it was time for dinner and then the sewers, all before the sun set he started for a restaurant.

Feeling okay to go outside again, and wanting to end his day with something worth while, he headed for Applebee's. When he left after having buffalo wings, a burger bigger than his fist with French fries, and topped off with a Mudslide (not paying attention to the small amount of chocolate alcohol in it) he walked out the door with a stomach about to burst.

With the sun starting to sink, he was on his way to a familiar manhole cover when he was sidetracked by a Game Stop. An hour and a half later he finally dropped down into the sewers with a wireless guitar under his arm, complete with game in the combo deal. He hurried through the tunnels, trying to keep his steps quiet so he would be able to tell the difference between his footsteps and those of others if they happened to appear. Thankfully though, he made it to the lair without any unexpected encounters, but there was still the matter of the expected encounters.

* * *

I'll just say right off the bat, this chapter was spur of the moment, not in the original planning of the story - or lack there of... Anyway, I could say this is mostly dedicated to **Puldoh_, _**becuase, well... on the last comment she left she told me she'd comment on anything with Mikey in it, and she wanted more Mikey action and that got me thinking since he IS human and all, and when I start thinking... well that's when plotlines start popping up, and I was sort of in an open spot in the story. So here's to you Puldoh! hope ya like it.

...blank mind.


	10. Restraints

**Chapter Nine**

**Restraints**

"Sen- sei- can we- stop- now- _please_!" Alex pleaded between huffs as she and Razor lay in the middle of the training area doing sit up after sit up. Both of them felt like puking from the amount of cookie dough they had consumed earlier that day and the exercise wasn't helping.

"I think fifty more should just about do it," Splinter said.

The two groaned though they continued, vowing to never touch a single cookie again whether it be cooked or not.

When they finally reached "_Fifty!_" neither felt like they could stand even if they wanted to. But finally Razor stumbled to his feet with the help of Jack pulling on his hand. Razor helped Alex up and they slowly walked to Alex's closed off corner. They basically collapsed onto the blankets clutching their aching stomachs, hiding behind the blanket that cut them off from the rest of the room so they couldn't be bothered by more exercise and many disapproving looks.

After a moment Razor suddenly realized that there were three bodies on the blankets when he felt Jack curl up at his side. After a few moments the littlest one was asleep. A little while later the other two followed so as to sleep off the lingering pain.

Not long after an orange bandana-wearing head peeked into the lair. After scoping the area he found no one to be within sight. Everyone seemed to be doing their own thing at the moment.

With a large breath there was a streak of green, orange and brown zooming across the room that quickly disappeared into a messy bedroom before anyone noticed his presence. Or so he thought…

Trying not to make any noise, Mikey stood in front of his mirror and frowned. He had taken his shirt off to inspect the damage from the day in his bedroom. "Aw man…" he whispered as he stared at the bruises of ranged sizes dotting his skin. When he twisted around to see his back he winced at just seeing the almost black patch of skin from when he was continuously shoved into a wall by Hun. It wouldn't have been bad, though part of that bruise had already been started when he fell out of the tree at the park. Then there was the matter of his wrists where the rope that had bound his hands had left thier mark.

"Rough day?"

Mikey whipped around to see Raph leaning against the doorway.

Raph chuckled as he walked into the room. "You don't have to look like you've been caught with a bag full of stolen money. Mind sharin' your adventures of the day?"

"I uh- fell out of a tree," Mikey said. It wasn't like it was a lie.

"Uh huh," Raph said skeptically and grabbed Mikey's arm, holding the wrist up. "I'm sure a _tree_ gave you rope burn."

"I did fall out of a tree…" Mikey mumbled.

Raph rolled his eyes and dropped the arm. "Look Mike, I personally think its great yer going out on your own - yer growin' up. But ya gotta be more careful with what you do when you sneak out."

"I didn't sneak out."

"You left before anyone was awake to see you go, you haven't talked to anyone all day-"

"I've talked to Leo."

"One worded phone calls don't count kid," Raph said like he was a teacher passing on information to the rookie student. "Besides that you snuck back in, and on top of everything else your back's purple-er than Don's mask. You _have _to have a better story than 'I fell outta a tree'."

Mikey rose his hand to scratch his head but quickly pulled it away after touching the spot where it had been rammed into a wall. "Ow!"

Raph was about to suggest a few alibis to cover a beaten body when he noticed something in the mirror Mikey was standing in front of. Part of the orange bandana was a few shades darker than it was supposed to be in the back. "Turn around."

"What?"

"Just turn around."

Questioningly Mikey turned around so he was facing the mirror.

Raph yanked on one of the cloth tails so the knot came undone and the bandana slipped off. "Crap Mike," he said after seeing a patch of his brother's blond hair matted down and colored red with blood. "What the hell happened out there?"

"What do you mean?" Mikey asked, turning back around.

Raph held up the blood specked bandana. "You've been bleedin' from the head!"

Mikey took his mask, looking at the dots of red. "That explains the people asking me if I was okay in the theater…" he muttered. When he looked back up at his brother Raph had an expectant face. Mikey sighed; he knew he wouldn't be able to keep his secret from Raph, the one that had practically written the book of breaking rules and telling lies. "Okay, but promise not to overreact, or tell Sensei - or Leo - or anyone really."

"You think I'd tell Leo anything?"

"Just promise!"

"Okay, okay I swear jeez."

Mikey was hesitant but finally explained how he'd been at the skate park and was lured away into an alley. How he was shoved into the building and ambushed by Hun with the Foot. After the word 'ambush' the expression on Raph's face become more and more angry. When Mikey finally finished Raph was obviously pissed off with the want for revenge. Mikey had to run to the doorway so he could block it before Raph went on a man hunt.

"Move."

"Please Raph," Mikey pleaded. He really just wanted the day to stay in the past. "Let's just drop it; it's just a couple of bruises. It could be way worse. Worst case I wouldn't even be standing here but I am. I just want to forget about the whole thing, now you know so you can forget too."

"Mike- were you _blind _when you looked in that mirror?" Raph asked, not believing Mikey didn't want to do anything after what happened. The Foot are one thing, but an _ambushing_? "For all you know you gotta cracked skull. And personally I don't think you would even realize yer head's broke until yer brain's leakin' out yer nose!"

"Mikey?" a new voice said from the main room. The arguing brothers looked through the doorway to see Donnie standing there with a look of confusion and concern. At that point Mikey realized he was showing off his purplish-black back and reddened hair to anyone that happened to pass by. "Guy's, what's going on - what happened?"

Mikey slowly turned around to face Don. "Uh- I fell out of a tree?"

...--... ...--... ...--... ...--... ...--... ...--... ...--...

_BAM BAM BAM!_

"Alex it's been ten minutes!"

"What's your point?!"

"Get your butt out here!"

"I'm not done yet!"

"I gotta go too!"

"So?!"

"Hurry up!"

"I can't go any faster!"

"Hurry anyway!"

"I ate just as much as you did!"

"So?! I _really _gotta go!"

"Go in the sewer!"

"Grrr…"

While Alex and Razor yelled at each other through the bathroom door - Jack still napping in Alex's bed - the rest of the family were gathered in the kitchen where Mikey sat backwards on a wooden chair as Don applied a bandage in case the scab that had formed broke open.

"So when did this happen?" Don asked after Mikey explained his encounter with Hun. No one really bought the idea that he got beaten so badly by a tree. "Did the tree fall on top of you afterwards?" had been Don's reaction to the excuse.

"Uh… about the time Leo called and I said he worried too much."

"You said you were at a theater," Leo said.

"I was," Mikey defended. "Just… not at the exact time you called." The last fifteen minutes had been exactly how Mikey had pictured it: Raph wanted revenge, Don tended to injuries, and Leo teamed up with Splinter agreeing with everything the old rat said.

"I still say we go out there and get even," Raph grumbled.

"No Raphael," Master Splinter said firmly. "We do not go out looking for a fight. The most honorable are the ones that are able to avoid battles, not the ones with the most victories on the battle field. There is no reason to fight a battle that leads to nothing but destruction."

_Yep, _**exactly** _as I pictured it… _Mikey thought as Don tied off the bandage.

Leo agreed with Splinter and Raph mumbled something under his breath, though Mikey was able to catch the words "Splinter Jr."

"I don't want revenge," Mikey told Raph for the second time. "I just want to be able to lay down without hurting."

...--... ...--... ...--... ...--... ...--... ...--... ...--...

"Okay," the kid said dropping his fry onto the greasy paper. "I've never understood this. Why don't you starve?"

Psych looked at Bomber from across the table with hint of amusement as the two sat in a McDonalds. They had arrived in New York four days ago and spent those four days looking. Bomber wasn't really sure what they were looking for, and Psych didn't need to ask. It was almost too easy to read a mind that was lost, scattered and becoming more and more frustrated with every passing hour. Psych had to constantly remind him of the basic bodily needs while they searched for any kind of clue as to what they were doing. It had taken him almost two hours to convince Bomber he had to eat something.

_It's simple really, _Psych said, looking out the window as he sat with his legs crossed in the booth, ignoring the voices from a couple of teenagers some tables away. The past few days he had constantly been subject to compliments on how 'cute' he was. He didn't see it, and personally blamed the black and red scarf that made it look like he was walking around with a cape. _With the fact being that I don't have a mouth my body never knew what it was like to be fed, so I don't technically need food. But… _He turned back to the table to dump a couple salt packets out on the surface, pulling his finger through the grains to make small pictures. _Since I can't eat and get the nutrients from food I'm not very strong, or agile. That and I'm old._

"Huh," was all Bomber said as he continued to eat what was left of his meal. "And you know you can't keep pulling this old card on me. I don't care if you're a thousand years old, I still have to hold your hand across the street, pick you up so you can reach a counter, and I can't leave you alone anywhere because you're so small. You may be old, but you're still little."

_Just remember, _Psych said as they stood up to leave. _I never asked for this kind of attention._

"Fine then, I'll stop taking care of you," Bomber said quietly as they walked out the door.

_I didn't mean it like that. Besides, you're the one that needs taking care of._

"Oh it's like that is it?" Bomber asked crossing his lower set of arms, which were hidden underneath a sweatshirt a few sizes too big. It wasn't exactly a fashion statement, but it hid the fact that he wasn't exactly human.

_If I didn't cook for you you'd be living off of fast food, and I'm the one that's constantly reminding you where you put the keys, your shoes, the guns… you'd lose your head if it wasn't attached._

"What happened to the tired little pacifist that slept ninety percent of the time? I'm starting to miss him," Bomber sighed as they cut through an alley to get back to the hotel, it was getting dark and the two were still trying figuring out the layout of the city. It didn't help that everything changed when the shadows of night fell to Earth.

_Oh very fun- _The sarcastic thought was cut off by a grunt of pain as Psych slapped a hand to the back of his neck.

"Psych?" Bomber asked stopping in the alley.

Psych pulled a dart from his neck. After a moment he started to sway and his legs collapsed.

Bomber barely caught him before he hit the ground. "Psych?!" he exclaimed and looked for a reason when he didn't get a response. A pair of metal talons landing onto a fire escape above his head gave him the answer. Without taking the time to even swear under his breath, Bomber scooped up Psych's unconscious body and ran down the alley.

The robot bird immediately gave chase from the air.

Bomber's laser gun was right in his back pocket but he couldn't grab it with his extra arms trapped under his sweatshirt and his dominant ones clinging to Psych. Glancing over his shoulder he quickly jumped to the side, almost tripping in the process, when the robot's lasers turned on.

When the alley ended he dashed across the street causing a few drivers to slam on their breaks swearing, and then rub their eyes when the robot came in and out of sight. Going right back into another alley, Bomber continued in his escape but shortly after skidded to a stop when the alley ended with nowhere to go.

Whipping around he was face-to-face with the robot with no apparent escape. In the middle of a stare down, Bomber slowly shifted Psych so the body was balanced in one arm, and quickly reached for his back pocket. But before his hand could even find the handle of the laser gun the robot opened up its chest and shot a net made of thick wires. The net was too big to dodge and heavy enough that it knocked Bomber on his back, the conscious of the two was barely fast enough to position himself so he could cushion Psych's fall as they hit the ground.

As the bird walked forward the net gave off an electrical charge sending a thousand volts of electricity through Bomber's body. It didn't let up until the trapped experiment finally passed out with a few less living brain cells.

...--... ...--... ...--... ...--... ...--... ...--... ...--... ...--...

Waking up to darkness wasn't easy anymore. First one had to figure out if their eyes were either open or closed – or there was always the possibility you had suddenly gone blind. When you finally figured out you weren't sleeping anymore it was time to groan about aching body parts because it was impossible to find a comfortable position in a room that was nothing but hard metal flooring and cement walls. It didn't help any if you were forced into a sitting position with numb hands, and your wings uncomfortably pressed against your back with duct tape.

_Of all the stupid things made by humans why _ducttape_?! It's like they're _trying _to yank my feathers out. Actually, they probably are… and I thought I'd never hate my life again…_

With a huff of self-pity Dev tried to look around, knowing he couldn't. There was no source of light whatsoever. He had been sitting in complete darkness since he first woke up an eternity ago strapped down by only what he could feel were shackles clamped around his wrists so tight it cut off the blood flow. He didn't know where he was exactly, but he had a pretty good guess on who had brought him here.

_Assholes really are devils from hell, they won't die. Or they did die and just came back from the grave. Why not? Maybe I'm just not good enough to stay out of captivity. How does Alex do it?...well there's always the stealth training for sneak attacks… and she lives with a fighting group…_

Suddenly a while light exploded and he had to squeeze his eyes shut with a rather colorful expression. Head bent down towards the floor he tried opening his eyes but it burned. Through his abrupt blindness he could sense the presence of someone near him and felt the shackles being messed with. They weren't taken off though - no that would have meant his captors were being nice - instead they were pulled in front of his body and probably chained together like heavy, tight fitting handcuffs by the sound of metal clinking. If that wasn't enough he was roughly yanked to his feet and felt whoever was messing with him doing something very close to his side. He had half a mind to kick whoever it was but thought better of it for the sake of his health.

When he was able to squint against the unforgiving light something was clamped around his neck.

Blinking his eyes open, he looked down at himself. As he thought, metal shackles were gripping his wrists so tight his hands had a purple tint to them. A short chain was running between the shackles just like handcuffs. But then he noticed another chain that was looping over the first chain and disappeared between his legs. When he tried to lift his arms the second chain grew taut before his hands reached his chest. That's when he figured the chain was connected to the thing around his neck because when he pulled his arms up the thing pulled back against his throat, so if he even tried to hands up any higher than his shoulders he was going to choke himself. And if that wasn't enough, when the shackles were raised the second chain was raised also and caught where nothing should catch.

Just as he understood the cruelty that went towards making sure he kept his arms down he received a shove from behind. It caught him off guard and he almost fell on his face. When he regained his balance he was pushed again and through an open doorway sending him stumbling down a hall.

Grumbling a few choice words got him a smack on the back of the head hard enough his eyeballs almost popped out. That being the last straw he turned to face his oppressor and found a man twice his size.

"What are you lookin' at?" the man said roughly and put a large hand to Dev's chest giving a shove that had the experiment stumbling backwards. Uninitiated by size, Dev regained his footing and ran forward. When he was ready to pull his foot back for a kick the man quickly grabbed the chain running between his shackles and yanked up. With a choked yelp Dev stood barely on his toes after almost being pulled onto his back by the collar around his neck yanking on him, then there was the painful matter of the chain between his legs getting yanked up.

"Listen ya freak of nature," the man said threateningly. "Either you go quietly - as in I don't wanna hear your voice in any way and you don't try to run off or do anything that could be seen as a threat - or I make sure you never go to the bathroom again," he pulled up harder on the chains to get the point across "got it?"

Dev managed a nod as he rose with the chains until he was barely on the tips of his toes like he was in a ballet - a very painful ballet.

With a smirk the man let him go and Dev dropped back down with a breath of relief. Not giving him a moment the man pushed him back around and shoved him down the hall.

As he walked Dev noticed the hall they were going down was lined with doors.

He was stopped at one, which was really just the man grabbing the chain that hung down his back before it went between his legs. Dev didn't realize he was supposed to stop until he suddenly choked.

_Asshole… _he wanted to growl, but rather kept it in his head for personal reasons below the belt.

While Dev was distracted listing off colorful remarks in a number of languages inside his head, the man opened the door using a keypad. The door slid to the side and the experiment was ripped from his thoughts when he was shoved inside dark room, the door closing behind him as he hit the floor.

_Hey, he didn't chain me to the wall… _he thought optimistically as he lay on the hard floor, a small ache coming from where he was sitting on the thick shackles. After a few seconds he realized why he wasn't chained to the wall._ Wait- shit I can't get up._

"God dammit…" he huffed.

"At least you're not stuck to a wall," a voice nearly growled from in front of him.

"Who's there?" Dev demanded, rolling onto his side so he could look forward though he couldn't make anything out through the heavy darkness. He could almost place the voice, but it's been a while.

"Who do you think dumbass?"

_Yep - Bomber in a bad mood… _"Hey," he said, trying to push himself into a sitting position, but it wasn't going very well. "How'd you get here?"

"Electric net," Bomber muttered like he had something entirely different on his mind.

"Tranquilizer," Dev said, not really sure why it mattered how they got captured. The point was that they were captured. Then he wondered why he had been moved into a room with Bomber. An aerial combat soldier had nothing to do with an explosive specialist, except that sometimes the soldier would drop the bombs created by the specialists, but that was about it. The two hadn't even really held a conversation in a long time. The only reason Dev even passed a few words with Bomber was because Psych had decided to live with him and- _Wait, if Bomber's here then… _"Where's Psych and Eli?"

No answer.

Dev sighed. There was nothing he could do being chained up as he was, and he could only assume Bomber was shackled to the wall like he had been earlier. It was on both their minds that not only was Psych more than likely captured somewhere also, but Dev could tell Bomber was equally - if not possibly more - worried about Eli. It was also very obvious that there was nothing either of them could do to help the two, let alone anyone else in the scientists' grasps if they couldn't help themselves first.

Time crawled on, though it might as well have been standing still as the two just existed there in the surrounding darkness. They didn't talk. They really didn't have anything in common to talk about. Dev liked to fly, Bomber liked to blow stuff up. Sure Dev had a thing for loud noises and seeing something get destroyed (what kind of guy didn't?), but he didn't understand the whole science behind it, and he didn't feel like learning it either. And he knew Bomber would never understand what it felt like to fly in open skies - or to fly at all really.

After a couple lifetimes Dev opened his eyes despite the darkness and lifted his head from the floor. "Do you hear buzzing?"

...--... ...--... ...--... ...--... ...--... ...--... ...--...

"Sir," the low scientist was back, standing some feet behind the chair sitting in front of the main computer. "The soldier has been moved as commanded."

"Very good," the head scientist smiled to himself. Turning his chair, he stood up. "I believe it is time we stopped trying to bring our projects in by ourselves."

"Sir? I'm not sure I know what you mean."

_Of course you don't you simpleton… _"It's simple," Ambrose Luben said with hands folded neatly behind his back. "At first I didn't want to turn to this, but it seems to be the only way to insure our work gets back under control. It has been proven many times through history that we as humans do not take kindly to things we do not quite understand. So we'll show them something they are bound to not understand, and through instinct they will first panic for their safety, and then organize to control what they see as a horrible threat."

"How are you sure the people do it, exactly?" the smaller ranking scientist asked.

"What better way to show a threat than to see the harmful side of our creations?"

"How are you planning to do that?"

_No wonder all you do is supervise vital signs on a computer screen… _"My little side invention of course," Ambrose said out loud. "I find mind control a little easier to handle than free will." As he spoke the scientist knew that the small insects he had first created were drilling through the skulls of the two captured. In a few hours the lucky two would be the representatives of the experiments. After they make their presence known to the public the authorities would surely be more than happy to round up the rest of the annoying free willed experiments for him and dump them into his 'well prepared hands'.

_Oh how good it felt to be the one pulling the strings…_

* * *

I admit this doesn't really have anything in it, but it wraps things up from the chapter before, and sets things up nicely for the next chapter. Oh what does this so called 'man of science' (who's supposed to be dead, but like Dev said: they won't **die**!!) have planned for our sub-main characters? Wait and read to find out.

I just love cliff hangers (even partial ones) don't you?

REVIEW!


	11. Exposure

**Possible spoiler alert!** If you haven't seen the new Hellboy movie, try to ignore most of what the very begining of the chapter says. You have been warned.**

* * *

**

**Chapter Ten**

**Exposure**

"Okay, I admit it," Razor said holding his hands up as they exited the movie theater after seeing _Hellboy II: The Golden Army_. They had already seen the first one a while ago. Mikey had it in his vast collection of DVDs since it was based off a comic book that he had found only a few years ago. "That was pretty good."

Gorf had begged them to come with him. Alex and Razor hadn't wanted to leave the lair with their stomachs still a little upset, but they caved just to get the frog to shut up. They had slipped out of the lair, taking Mikey's method by leaving a note and leaving before anyone could catch them sneaking out the door.

"Told ya you'd like it," Gorf said happily.

"Gotta admit, even _our _robots aren't that bad," Alex commented.

"I say the graphics were a little _too _good," Jack said while they walked down the sidewalk.

Alex chuckled quietly to himself. "Tooth fairies…"

"Yeah," Razor said to Jack's comment. "If you ever go to another action movie with us you're not allowed to have any drinks and you'll be sitting with Alex."

"Oh come on Razor," Gorf said, putting arm around the shark's shoulders. "Don't be mean, even if he did almost wet himself in your lap."

"Fine, he can sit on your legs next time."

"I… think I'm good, thanks."

"Hey, what's that?" Jack asked, pointing ahead of them.

The three adults looked ahead of them. They were entering Time's Square and saw a large crowd huddled in the middle of Times Square. Traffic seemed to have stopped in the large intersection as the crowd steadily grew larger. At the center of the crowd was what seemed to be a stage of some kind, on the stage was the reason for the crowd: a large object covered by a red sheet.

Though they were continuously warned to keep a distance from overly populated crowds, Alex walked towards the large group of humans. Razor and Gorf were quick to follow, Jack just tagging along.

"What's going on?" Gorf voiced loudly for anyone to answer when they started mixing with the crowd. Jack was squeezing both Razor and Gorf's hands so he wouldn't disappear in the ocean of legs.

"Don't know," someone said. "The thing appeared almost an hour ago, carried by some robots."

"Police tried to make them move," someone else said. "But some guy talked to the one in charge. The cops are still here, but they're not doing anything."

"Curious, probably," Gorf guessed.

Alex stood on her toes to try and get a better view but there were a lot of people taller than her fourteen-year-old body.

Just as curious as everyone else, the next twenty minutes were spent of the small group waiting around with Alex squeezing and pushing her way through the crowd to get a better view, the other three close behind.

Right as Razor noticed the news crews dotted all around them something finally happened: all the electronic ads hanging all over the building walls around them suddenly went blank. After a few seconds they all turned on together and showed the stage so everyone could see no matter where they were placed in the crowd. Climbing onto the stage, and in turn stepping into view on the screens, was the scientific Satan himself. The very sight of him started to boil Alex's blood.

Razor put a hand on the girl's shoulder to tell her to stay put after seeing her hands clench into fists that started to grow and sharpen. Alex glanced at him and tried to control herself for a few more minutes. Might as well stand still and see what was going on, and then kill her creator.

"Citizens of New York!" Ambrose called out, his voice amplified by a set of speakers standing up from the stage like he was giving a presidential speech. "I am sure you are all wondering just what is going on at the moment. And I can assure you all that you will find out very soon. But first I must tell you that at this very moment the entire Earth's population is in danger."

"What's he talking about?" Gorf muttered as questioning voices broke out among the crowd in a din.

"I'll say right now it's not good for us," Alex growled.

"And it's being broadcasted to national television," Razor added.

Ambrose waited a moment for the voices to quiet down some. "Within every country there are tales of creatures and demons dotting the lands. Of course these are nothing but legends, fairy tales, children's stories, whatever you want to call it. But what if I was to say that there are creatures living among us? Clever, devious creatures have mixed within our population without anyone noticing by taking on the appearance of teenagers and innocent children." He gestured toward the red curtain. "Under this curtain if proof that what I say is true." With a mighty, yet graceful, tug Ambrose pulled the curtain right off and showed just what he said. Inside a large cube big enough to be a room pulled from a house made of bulletproof glass were two teenager boys. One was sixteen and would look average enough if it weren't for the hard-to-not-notice pair of dark feathered wings sprouting from his back. The other was only thirteen but had a more muscular build than the first, and was equally strange with four arms instead of the natural two. The sight of the two wouldn't have been so bad if it wasn't for the fact they looked like they were in the middle of a death match, complete with obvious bruises and some of the blood smears on the glass that had already happened before the curtain was pulled.

"No way…" Gorf whispered. _What would get them to do this?_

"Shit," was all Razor could come up with as Jack hid from the violence behind Razor's leg.

Alex couldn't say anything, all she wanted to do was sink her claws, tail blade, and maybe even fangs into the scientist. She would already be on the stage if it wasn't for Razor discreetly holding her back.

Bomber grabbed Dev's ready punch with his lower left hand and grabbed the next punch coming from Dev's free hand. With his top right hand Bomber punched Dev across the face. A few more punches were thrown before Dev pulled his bleeding head back and smashed his forehead against Bomber's. The blow knocked the younger one down. Without a moment to get past the pain given to both their skulls, Dev came jumped forward and would have landed both feet in Bomber's chest if the latter hadn't rolled to the side. On a second try Dev jumped up, using his wings to get high enough, and planted a kick to Bomber's face. This wasn't acting; the two were actually trying to cause some real damage.

"This is just the beginning," Ambrose proclaimed. "There are hundreds more spread across the globe. All of them look different, but let me promise you all are equally dangerous and none of them are human no matter how they may look or act."

_Speak for yourself! _Razor wanted to yell.

"We gotta stop them," Gorf whispered low enough for only his friends to hear as Dev was thrown against the wall of the glass box. "What's making them do this?"

As she watched the fighting Alex had a sudden flashback from two years ago. She had been forced to turn and fight her friends like she didn't even know them, completely against her will. She still felt grossed out at the very thought of the robotic insect that burrowed into her skin and lodged itself into her brain. When she got over the flashback she wondered If that was how Bomber and Dev were being controlled.

"I can also say that I have the right equipment to hold these creatures so they won't be as big of a threat. Me and my team of scientists and inventors have crafted weapons and containers to capture these creatures to remove them from the public. We are more than willing to give such weapons and things to the police and army for peace of not only the US but the Earth as a whole."

"We gotta stop this before everyone's in danger of exposure," Gorf muttered.

"More like before they kill each other," Razor whispered back as he watched their fellow experiments continue to maul each other with pounding fists and kicking feet, along with any other way they could hurt one another without the use of weapons.

Finally Alex spotted it. Another scientist was close by, but not near the stage. He was standing unnoticed by a building playing with a little device in his hand. At first glance it looked like he was fiddling with a cell phone the device was so small, but Alex knew a scientist when she saw one and that was no average guy trying to get a hold of a friend.

Looking back at the glass cube she noticed a small opening that acted as a doorway. The doorway was filled in with a solid white laser that would probably fry anything that touched it. Sitting beside the doorway was a device that probably controlled the laser.

A plan quickly formed in her head.

"Jack, is your shoe untied again?" Alex suddenly asked, bending down. Jack looked at her funny after seeing his shoelace was tightly tied, then noticed she was gesturing for him to bend down also. "Jack, I need you to trust me," she whispered seriously. "We're going to rescue these guys, they're friends of ours, and I need you to trust me not to drop you because I'm going to attract all these people's attention and I'll be carrying you. Okay?"

Jack gave her a questioning look but finally nodded.

"Dang it, Ray could you help me with this knot?" Alex said louder.

Razor bent down, him and Alex huddled around the small shoe.

"There's a scientist by the wall directly west of us," Alex informed him in a hiss. "He's holding a mind control device; it's what's making those two fight. Grab it and turn it off. Frog!"

"Hey a quarter!" Gorf exclaimed and bent down.

"There's a lock-thing on the side of the box, it's beside a door. Get that door open, I'm sure you know how to do it without any gear."

Gorf straightened up and looked for the device. "Dang it, dropped the quarter…" He bent back down. "Are you kidding? I used to build those things, it'll be easy. But how do I get up there without getting noticed?"

"Leave that to me," Alex said. "Razor will be fixing their fighting; when they aren't trying to kill each other get them out of there. Go ahead and lead them back to the lair, just don't be followed, okay?"

Gorf nodded and straightened, as did Alex. Razor hesitated a moment, like he was finishing the tying of Jack's shoe. After a moment Razor said something with the word "bathroom" in it and walked to the west. Alex nodded a Gorf and he walked off too, pushing his way deeper into the crowd.

"And when they are captured I will see to it that they are handled in an appropriate manner to ensure everyone's safety," Ambrose was saying.

Alex looked down at Jack, who looked up at her with more questions then they had time for. She gave him a reassuring smile. "Trust me, and whatever you do _don't teleport_," she whispered at him and turned back to the stage, taking her sweatshirt off. After tying it around her waist she took a deep breath she yelled "Is that it?!"

It was silent for a second as people looked around for the source of the voice.

"Are those two the _threat_?!" she yelled as eyes turned on her. _Oh Splinter's going to kill me - I'm gonna kill me. _"They're nothing, just two teenagers with extra body parts. These 'creatures' you talk about, only a small number of them are dangerous." Most of the crowd was paying attention to her, so it was hardly noticeable that the two teens in the cube had stopped fighting and were just standing there dazed and beat up. _Gotta make sure Gorf doesn't get caught; time to make my move… _With a breath, knowing she would never be able to show her face in sunlight again, she clenched her fists and when she released them her hands were sharp claws. A sigh of relief later her tail uncurled itself and swung out from underneath her sweatshirt, blades glinting in the sun. People closest to her quickly stumbled back. To top it off, with a dramatic snap, she let her wings out. That got the gasps.

Knowing there were not only news cameras on her, but also cell phone cameras, digital cameras, and even camcorders pointed right at her. Even more proof that she would never be able to freely show herself topside again.

Up on stage she noticed Gorf jumping up onto the platform and started to tinker with the locking device. He would probably only need a few more seconds.

Alex pointed a claw up at the scientist. "Just let it be known why this man knows about such creatures, and how he has already created weapons to use against us. He's the one that created us, right out of his laboratories. He's only exposing us now because we escaped and he wants The People to round us up because he can't do so himself. We're only dangerous because we defend ourselves in self defense, he attacks us first!"

As she spoke the policemen that were positioned close to the stage came forward, their guns ready. Alex scowled at the weapons pointed towards her. Of course no one got that she wasn't posing as a threat at the moment, and the real enemy was standing right behind them. But that could just be her opinion, and who would listen to a low, escaped science experiment?

"Fine, if that's how you want it," she said and in a swift, smooth move grabbed Jack and jumped into the air, easily lifting up well over their heads, the little body clinging onto her for dear life, trying to do as told and not teleport. "Just remember," she called down before leaving the scene over the rooftops. "You'll never be able to catch all of us!"

...--... ...--... ...--... ...--... ...--... ...--... ...--...

"You're not done yet?" a voice hissed.

Gorf quickly glanced over his shoulder as he crouched down on the stage trying to stay out of sight. "It's complicated!" he hissed back.

Razor clambered up onto the stage, staying crouched down as he crawled over to Gorf. He had easily wrestled the mind control device from the scientist, and, after turning it off, took a nice big chunk out of it to keep it off.

Everyone's attention was focused on a girl. Personally, Razor still couldn't believe Alex was risking public exposure like this. Not only was she going to become forever forced to stay in the sewers, but Splinter - and even Leo - were going to kill her or willingly showing off what she was. But it was for a good cause.

"Move," Razor said and shoved Gorf out of the way. It was an awkward angle, but when shark-boy was done the laser door disappeared.

"You have no respect for technology," Gorf said shaking his head when Razor spat the locking device out of his mouth.

"But my method always works in the shortest time," Razor said as they quickly entered the glass cube.

"Gorf…?" Dev muttered confusedly.

"Move now, talk later," Gorf said as he and Razor quickly shoved the beat up experiments out into the open. There weren't any people behind the stage and that's where they took their leave. But even with no one to slow them down the going wasn't easy. Dev could barely stand on his own let alone run in a straight line, whereas Bomber could at least run but wasn't exactly the fastest runner out there.

Razor and Gorf had to practically drag their comrades down an alley, knowing they had to stay out of the streets.

People back at Time's Square must have realized that the absence of the experiments because sirens blared very close by.

"Great…" Razor huffed.

"Come on," Gorf said. "Alex said to take these guys to the lair. Let's get in the sewers before anyone finds us."

"Right."

...--... ...--... ...--... ...--... ...--... ...--... ...--...

"Man, there's nothing on!" Mikey exclaimed in a whine as he lay face down on the couch staring at the numerous TV screens, head resting on the arm not holding the remote.

"There's obviously _something _on or else the numerous stations wouldn't work," Don said coming up to the couch and handed him a tube of lotion. "Here, courtesy of April."

Mikey took the lotion and looked at it. He stuck his tongue out. "This stuff smells like Razor's breath or something."

"Even so, it'll help heal your bruises faster," Don said.

"But it stinks, and feels weird!"

"Put it on."

"Fine," Mikey huffed and sat up.

When his brother accepted the ointment Don glanced at the TVs. It was stopped on some kiddy show where everything had eyes, was smiling, and there was happiness all around. He reached down and grabbed the remote. He was all for learning and education for children, but he disagreed with the reality the writers created for kids - especially that _Dora the Explorer_ show, having a child run around the country, through forests over mountains and such with a blue talking monkey without an adult. And he highly doubted if you saw someone trying to take your things and said "Thief no stealing!" three times they would go away just like that. And he wasn't even going to get started with _Blues Clues_.

Flipping through the channels he realized there really wasn't anything good to watch. He turned the TVs off and was about to walk away when Raph emerged from the depths of his room.

"Damn, what died in here?"

"See!" Mikey exclaimed looking disgusted as he rubbed the odd colored lotion on his arms.

"Raph…" Don said.

"What?" Raph asked innocently and grabbed the remote. Turning the TVs back on they found the news. Raph was about to change it when a statement popped out at them: "Inhuman creatures running loose in the city." The three glanced at each other then back to the screens. The scene had changed to footage of just a few minutes ago of a dark haired girl with pale skin and black hands showing off a tail and batwings.

"Alex is on TV!" Mikey exclaimed happily.

"Hey for once I'm not going to be in trouble," Raph said.

"I'm sure there's a perfectly reasonable explanation," Don said, though he sounded concerned.

The three continued to watch the news. All they got out of it was the anchors stressing how dangerous these 'creatures' could be after watching two of them go at it, and the other one with large blades and claws attached to 'it's' body. The news even added the footage of the two fighting, though only for a few moments. Then it was explained how police will be looking through the streets and encourage people to stay indoors until more information is gathered.

As they stared at the screens Leo appeared a few minutes in the 'breaking news'.

When the story ended there was a moment of silence. The four were trying to figure out just what was going through their friend's mind. She had exposed herself for a good cause, but there had to have been a better way. But what's done is done; now it was a matter of hoping Alex would ever walk back into the lair.

...--... ...--... ...--... ...--... ...--... ...--... ...--...

"I only have one question… _what the hell happened_?!" Razor exclaimed as he stood in front of the kitchen table. Ten minutes ago he and Gorf had stumbled into the lair supporting the beaten bodies. There was some silence as Don tried to stop bleeding noses, shoved frozen peas and ice packs against black eyes and fat lips, and Mikey was happy to donate his funky smelling bruise lotion out of 'the kindness of his heart' - AKA there was less for him to wear.

"Don't yell at me," Bomber said sharply and pointed at Dev. "Bird brain here almost broke my freak'n nose!"

"You? I swear you knocked some teeth loose," Dev said as he held an ice pack to his cheek.

"What about my eye?"

"You yanked feathers out! It's not like I already have a molting problem!"

"You pulled my hair and almost broke my arm!"

"Like you don't have three others."

"I'm sure you don't need those wings either," Bomber said threateningly, but it didn't give out a very menacing effect since his nose was basically plugged by the bloodied rag held to his nostrils.

"Hey, I've already been through one broken wing, I don't need to go through it again."

"Okay guys that's enough," Leo said. "How about just explaining what happened?"

Bomber and Dev looked at each other for a moment, and then turned to the others that stood around the kitchen sitting in chairs and leaning on counters and walls. The two shrugged.

"We don't get very much freedom anymore," Dev said.

"Like we got any before," Gorf muttered.

"It's worse," Bomber said.

"I'll say," Dev agreed, leaning back in his chair. "Kept in pitch black rooms by yourself, shackled around the wrist to the wall, so tightly your hands go numb. My wings were duct taped to my back, then ripped off taking yet more feathers - god it's a good thing I grow them faster than any bird would."

"Anyway," Bomber continued. "I can't really say when it happened, but at some point Dev was moved into where I was being kept. Some time after that we heard buzzing."

"Never a good sign," Gorf commented.

"No a bad sign is when something bites ya on the neck," Bomber said pointing to the side of his neck.

"Course we couldn't see what it was," Dev said. "But we couldn't do anything about it with our hands tied down."

"Then there was a sharp pain in my head," Bomber remembered. "Like something digging through my skull. The next thing I know Razor's pushing me down some alley. Everything between those times was like some weird dream. Only you don't wake up when you get hurt." He looked at Dev pointedly.

"That's just life," Alex said. Everyone turned to the voice to see the girl sitting on the couch's armrest. When did she come in?

Suddenly Jack appeared with his arms wrapped around Razor's waist, face dug into his side. The little boy pointed a finger back at Alex. "She dropped me!"

"I said I was sorry!" Alex exclaimed and crossed her arms. "I've never carried cargo longer than a few seconds before," she said as an explanation at the looks she got.

"Amateur…" Dev muttered.

"Like you've ever carried a body before," Alex told him sharply and pointed at Jack. "Besides he slipped out of his shirt and I caught him before he fell five feet, and we were a good forty feet in the air, he wasn't even close to the ground."

"Beside the point," Razor said protectively and caught himself. "God damn it he's growing on me…"

Splinter cleared his throat.

"Oh- uh- sorry."

"Anyway," Alex said to move things along before anyone pointed out that she had willingly shown herself to the public. Personally she hoped they would forget about it before she could get in trouble. "The pain in your head was a small robot about the size of a half dollar drilling through your skull and implanting itself in your brain. It's a way of mind control."

"Say what?" Dev said in a deadpan voice.

"I turned them off," Razor said.

Dev adjusted the bag of peas to find a colder spot to hold over his eye. "Well that's just great; I have a damned robot in my head and a hole in my skull. Can you guys get it out?"

Don shook his head. "I don't have anywhere near the right equipment."

"Al has one in her head too," Mikey said.

"Great, we can't start a damned club," Bomber grumbled, his lower arms crossed.

Splinter quietly shook his head. No matter how old the experiments actually were, they acted like their looks and the youth of this generation was so lost to swearing it had become part of their natural vocabulary. He tried to keep his own sons from cursing but it was inevitable.

"What's your problem?" Raph asked the experiment non too nicely.

"Psych and Eli…" Bomber muttered, his free hand tightening into a fist until his knuckles started to crack.

"Oh yeah, how're they doing?" Mikey asked and received a look with misdirected anger.

"They're caught," Bomber muttered.

"What?" Alex, Razor, Gorf, Don, Mikey, and Leo managed to say together.

Bomber huffed. "We settled down in Tennessee, it was where we were caught by surprise by those freak'n bird-things. There were three of 'em - I took one out with a bomb igniting the cabin with it, the second one I took out with my gun. The third one got away with Eli. Me and Psych didn't know where to look, so we came to New York - might as well I thought, it's where everything began. We looked around a couple days when we got here. The fourth day we're heading back to the hotel and the freak'n robot appears out of nowhere. It's pretty obvious what happened after that."

Alex stood up and stepped forward. "We can't let this happen. Not again."

Everyone nodded in agreement.

"But you can't be the leader, or the planner," Razor said. "Your plans always backfire, and, I'm sorry, but I can't trust you with my life if you can't even beat me at chess."

Alex gave him a resentful glare, but had to agree.

"Can you guys tell us where the scientists have set up?" Leo asked.

Dev and Bomber shook their heads.

"You're unconscious going in or coming out," Dev said. "And I bet you rarely come out anyway. We were only let out so we could put on a show."

"Well you guys made a _great_ first impression," Gorf said. "It was just putting us in a bad light. It's gonna be just like the movies," he said worriedly.

"Do you think they'll really use the army?" Mikey asked.

"I'll say they'll use everything they got after seeing genius's built on weapon," Raph directed at Alex.

"It was the only thing I could think of to get attention off of them," Alex said before she could get scolded. "And I bet that bastard would have seen me anyway. And I knowI can no longer show my face in public again."

"We will talk about that later," Splinter said giving Alex a sense of dread.

"Going back to the problem at hand," Gorf said. "What're we gonna do?"

"I can't leave them stranded there," Bomber said.

"And you don't have to," Leo said. "We just need to think of something that won't get us all captured."

Mikey rubbed the shoulder that had recovered from the gunshot wound. "What about a tracker?"

"What?" Gorf asked.

"A tracker," Mikey repeated. "They did it to me. You know, hide a tracker on one of us. The one with it goes out at night and… well… sits there waiting to be found."

"And what, when they're caught everyone else follows the signal?" Razor asked.

"Basically," Mikey said.

"That's suicide," Dev said.

"I'll do it."

* * *

Oh who could have said that?

Finally finished this one. And I admit, I personally love writing cliffhangers when I can, and when I wrote the last sentenced I figured it was a great way to stop. And I've noticed my chapters seem to be getting longer and longer. But that might just be me.

Anyway, in real life I can only imagine how much writing I'll be getting done with school starting a week from tomorrow. I can't believe how early in the month its starting! And I can say that I'm not really excited about becoming a Freshman. I know a lot of people are like "OMG first year of **highschool!!**" but that's not me. to me its just another year of school to get by before I got to even more school for college. But I'll move this along before this chapter becomes my blog.

I'll leave you to wonder who's willing to be the live bait with a final word:

REVIEW!!


	12. Explosives, Spray Paint and Trackers

**Last time on No More Secrets:**

"What?" Gorf asked.

"A tracker," Mikey repeated. "They did it to me. You know, hide a tracker on one of us. The one with it goes out at night and… well… sits there waiting to be found."

"And what, when they're caught everyone else follows the signal?" Razor asked.

"Basically," Mikey said.

"That's suicide," Dev said.

"I'll do it."

* * *

**Chapter Eleven**

**Explosives, Spray Paint**

**And Trackers**

"You can't," Gorf said.

"And why not?" Razor asked.

"Have you not looked at your body as a whole lately? Anymore marks and you'll be more scar than skin," Gorf reasoned. "And that's if they let you live," he added grimly.

"I doubt it's something I haven't been through yet."

"I'd rethink that doubt," Dev said.

"Yeah well if I don't then who will?" Razor challenged.

"I will," Alex stepped up. "What?" she asked at the looks she got. "I figure I'm gonna be grounded for the rest of my life, so I might as well spend my last few hours outside of the lair doing something with an actual cause. Besides, I'm sure Ambrose has a few things he'd like to tell me after seeing that I'm still alive, and I have a few choice words to say to him. So give me the tracker."

"What I just say?" Razor said. "I can tell you right now, the scientists get their hands on _you _and they won't waste their equipment on punishments or further mutations. I might as well start engraving your tombstone right now."

"Does anybody else want to willingly hand themselves up to the scientists for a couple hours at the least?" Alex asked. "I'll tell you, they know we were specifically involved in the break out. It was Don's plan, and besides if one of you guys go" she looked at the turtles "you're probably heading for dissections, and they'll more than likely continue to play with Mike."

Mikey hugged his arms uncomfortably.

"Not only did Bomber help make the bomb," Alex continued "but now he's escaped their clutches twice. Same goes for Dev. None of us are cruel enough to send Jack in; I think we both know what's going to happen if you go, Razor; and Gorf…"

Gorf cleared his throat and suddenly found the microwave very interesting as he scratched his neck.

"My point."

"But we can't send you, Alex," Leo said. "Not the one they'll probably kill on the spot."

"_My _point," Razor said with a nod.

"She wants to go, I say let her," Dev said. He got glares from everyone. "What?" he shrugged.

"This isn't the time for the pointless argument between your guys' wing differences," Don said. Razor was impressed that Don even remembered about the argument when it was briefly explained back in the Labs.

"Didn't say that was the reason," Def said. "I just think that skinflap should go if she wants to."

"Featherhead."

"Fur brain."

"Birdbrain."

Dev stood up to the challenge of name exchange, dropping the frozen peas on the table in the process. "Batty."

"At least I don't have to worry about molting," Alex said with a smirk.

"U-uh…" Dev hesitated, trying to think of a word. "_Vampire!_" he finally exclaimed.

The smirk fell into a scowl. "Take that back!"

It was Dev's turn to smirk, knowing he just uncovered a nerve. "You're part blood suckin' vampire bat, and you know it," he said, lightly poking her in the chest.

Alex shook a threatening fist that started to triple its size. "Listen Tweety Bird…"

"Enough!" Splinter commanded. Alex glanced at the old rat and lowered her fist, reluctant to back down.

"Besides, the vampire bat has nothing to do with the vampires from fictional movies and books," Don informed.

"Beside the point…" Alex grumbled crossing her arms and turning to the side so she wouldn't have to face the air soldier.

Dev snickered under his breath at Alex being controlled - and by a rat no less. "Bloodsucker," he hissed.

Without really thinking about it, Alex threw an arm out. The punch hit him right between the eyes with her still enlarged fist, knocking him off balance. Falling over Dev smacked the back of his head on the edge of the table before he hit the floor and watched Tweety dance in circles above his head.

"Alex!" numerous voices exclaimed.

"Oops…"

...--...

"Hey, have you guys seen the news? It's crazy out there!" Casey exclaimed, running in from the elevator that led up to the abandoned garage that sheltered the Battle Shell. "A guy'd think there're zombies on the loose or something!"

It had been forty-five minutes since Dev accused Alex of being a vampire and in turn she near knocked him out. Most of the group had been arguing on the best way to find the Labs without the 'live bait' getting killed, or worse.

As they shot down each others' ideas Alex perched sourly on one of the rafters away from the kitchen area, the only sign of her presence was her tail hanging down, swinging from side to side in her indignation like the small scale of a sharp, deadly booby trap. The reason for her crossness was because Splinter had basically grounded her from leaving the lair at all after punching Dev in the face with no real reason.

It really wasn't her fault. Some things just happened, not everybody had perfect self-control. Like way back, when Razor almost bit her because she wouldn't give him back his bandana.

_And Dev deserved it… _she glowered to herself. 'Skinflap' was one thing, it's like lightheartedly calling a good friend an 'idiot' or 'loser', there's really no meaning behind it. The same went with 'featherhead', and the winged experiments knew it. But 'vampire' and 'bloodsucker' just made something click inside her. She didn't even know the words got on her bad side, they just did. The more she thought about it the more she realized she did have sort of a vampire look: pale skin (hands didn't count), dark hair, fangs, did red eyes count? And she had bat wings to boot. Of course there was that little patch of bloodlust in her mind that was reserved for not only Ambrose but Hun as well, but Dev didn't know about that.

She shook her head. _He still deserved it…_

Dev's wings twitched through habit at seeing normal humans when April walked in after Casey. He figured it didn't matter if they saw him as an experiment if they didn't even slightly react at the sight of the turtles and rat.

Adjusting the plastic bag filled with ice on the back of his head, he looked at the two adults, secretly calculating to see if he was older than them. It was an odd thing he couldn't help, he just found it amusing how much older he was compared to his peers, and how his _real _peers didn't know he was older than they saw him to be. After a moment he figured he was still younger.

"I can't really say I blame the general public considering what their first impression was," April told Casey, and then noticed the beaten Bomber and Dev sitting at the table. "Oh, hello."

Bomber grunted, and Dev lifted the sack of defrosting peas some from his black eye in something of a wave, before putting it back.

"Don't blame us," Dev added to April's comment.

"I hate robots…" Bomber muttered.

"Police are crawling everywhere," Casey continued his description of the topside world. "An' tha' Amboos guy-"

"Ambrose," Gorf corrected.

"Whatever-his-name-is is start'n to look like a regular hero in a time of crisis."

Mutants and experiments alike snorted in disagreement.

"The city's searching everywhere possible," April said. "Abandoned buildings, bridges, warehouses…"

"My place!" Gorf exclaimed. "Oh man," he said nervously with a hint of guilt. "If they find what I've got there they're gonna think we're preparing for war or something."

"We _were _built for one," Razor reminded him.

"Gorf's right," Leo said. "If they pry their way into his place you guys'll look more like a threat to humanity."

"We kind of are…" Alex said from the rafters.

"I gotta agree with batty on that," Casey said.

Gorf looked uneasy. There was no way to empty dock thirteen out fast enough before the police stumbled onto it. But he couldn't let them get to his computer. That was where he stored all his notes and things from his inventions, and ideas of inventions to come. There was also the matter of all the guns he had taken from the Labs.

A slight, dark smile tugged at Bomber's mouth.

"What're you smiling about?" Raph asked roughly.

"Nuke it."

"What?" It was amazing how many different expressions could be used for one word.

"That's your answer to everything," Razor said.

"I can't do that!" Gorf exclaimed.

"That would just attract more attention than needed," Leo said.

"Besides, we don't have any explosives," Mikey said and glanced at Don. "…do we?"

Don shook his head.

"I could easily make the bomb here; I've done it before out of things found under a sink. Jack could take me and Gorf to his place. While I set the bomb up bug breath can grab what he wants. When we leave the place goes up in flames. Simple as that."

"Give me a can of spray paint," Dev added. "And I could make it look like a bunch of humans did it; telling us to 'go back where we came from' or 'we're not afraid of you', or something."

"Since when can you do graffiti?" Razor asked.

"Since I get bored," Dev shrugged "and the skies aren't very open unless there're a bunch of clouds out, or it's late at night. But nighttime flight out in the country isn't very safe; you can never see where you're landing. Stupid tree branches…" he muttered from experience.

"Anyway," Bomber continued. "The best way to cover up all your tracks is to either not make them, or blow them sky high."

"It probably would be best to destroy the place," Alex said from her perch in the rafters.

Gorf was visibly thinking it over. They were probably right, if the public found his place as is then all experiments would only look more dangerous than they really are. But if he did destroy dock thirteen then he wouldn't have anywhere to go. The lair was basically full and he couldn't stay with April if she happened to offer because the police would more than likely start searching houses and similar places. Or maybe not, who would expect experiments to be staying with humans anyway? But say they did blow up the warehouse: wouldn't that just imply that there really is something to hide? Not to mention the explosion would practically be a signal saying they were still in the city. But if he just left it alone there was still a large chance that he would lose the warehouse anyway.

_What to do?_

"…okay."

...--...

"I don't know what's worse; that you're doing this, or the fact that you actually know _how _to do this," April said as she leaned against the table, which had cleaning supplies, random household junk, and a few specific concoctions Don was able to create.

"I'd be done already, but those assholes took my notes," Bomber said as his hands worked quickly on a rather large bomb that was made of sections tied together with long coils of wire so everything was sure to go. "So I'm stuck with memory alone."

"How can you, like, use four hands at the same time?" Mikey asked, standing at the table in curiosity. He'd never been up close to a bomb before. Back in the Labs he had kept his distance since the group of explosive technicians didn't like much company while they were working. But this one seemed to be in too big of a rush to pay much attention to the ones standing near his personal space.

"The same way you control two," Bomber said without lifting his eyes from his work.

Mikey looked at his hands, opening and closing them. "But doesn't it get confusing?" he asked after a minute.

Bomber's jaw tightened, but he continued working. "How can your brothers do anything with only six fingers?" he said, a sharp edge appearing in his voice.

"Hey, can I help?" Gorf asked cheerfully hoping up to the table. He was getting used to the fact that they were about to blow up what he had called 'home' for the past two years.

Bomber picked up a small package he had placed to the side. "Yeah, hold this," he said and tossed it in Gorf's general direction.

The frog barely caught it and tuned it over in his hands. "What is it?" he asked.

"See that button on the side?"

"…yeah…"

"Press it."

Gorf did as instructed.

_Poof._

Bomber glanced over and snickered at seeing a dazed Gorf standing there with red, blue, black, and purple ink splattered all over his upper half, and bangs that were standing straight up. "Heh, thanks, I needed that."

Blinking a few times Gorf looked down at himself. "Aw man," he groaned, turning around to walk away. "I already had my bath this month."

"You know perfectly well not to go near Bomber while he's working," Razor said as he sat on the couch, Dev laying down beside him using an ice pack wrapped in a towel as a pillow for his still pounding head.

"I can't help it," Gorf mumbled when Casey walked in through the elevator carrying a plastic bag.

Dev sat up to look over at the sound of metal cans clinking together. He stood up to take the bag and look through the numerous brands of spray paint.

"Ya know, I had to go to five different stores to get those," Casey complained.

"Why?" Jack asked.

"To keep suspicion down," Leo said. "This isn't exactly the ideal time to be out buying paint."

"Especially by word of the news," Don added.

"Black and red," Dev said holding up two cans. "What a great color combination when giving a threat. I could really send a message with these. Cool, purple too, and silver's always useful. Orange, yellow, and blue… these are going to be awesome flames." He turned to the kitchen. "You almost done in there?"

"Don't rush me flyboy!"

Minutes passed of everyone either standing around or working with the news playing in the background. There were numerous claims around the country saying they knew someone or a small group of kids that "just didn't seem right". Alex had gotten onto Don's computer for the internet to warn the experiments but most of them already knew and couldn't believe what she had done, while some had already been discovered, their doors getting kicked down as they sat in front of the monitor. Before anything happened they either closed their laptops or just fled from the computer. It was impossible to tell if anyone had gotten caught yet, though it wouldn't be surprising if the captures were declared on TV.

Finally Bomber was ready as he carefully stuffed the bomb into a duffle bag. Meanwhile, Jack was talking with Razor.

"I don't know, I've never taken more than one person with me before," he was saying uncertainly. "And even those times I don't mean to."

"Come on, I'm sure you can do it," Razor said encouragingly, starting to get that if he told the kid he could do something he'd seem more willing to try. Like when he first started to get to know all of them and he was terrified of the refrigerator and refused to go near it. It had taken them an hour to convince him to finally get the courage to open the door and realize it wasn't alive and wanted to eat him.

Jack shook his head. "I still don't know Sharp."

Razor quickly ignored the name accident. He still couldn't figure why Jack kept calling him that, and when he told the boy his name was Razor Jack had looked at him funny and shrugged. "I guess you don't have to take all three at the same time," he said. "You could go one at a time; you'll just have to make more trips back and forth. Just don't pass out."

Jack seemed to think over it. "Okay," he said after a moment.

They had to wait a while longer as Gorf showered because of Bomber's prank, then for the sun to set. But when everything was ready Jack took Gorf's hand, squeezed his eyes shut in exaggerated concentration and disappeared, taking Gorf with him. A second later Jack reappeared alone. Next he took Bomber's hand and the same happened. Coming back a second time he disappeared with Dev.

When the four were gone Don continued the work on the tracker he had started building while they waited. It was a relatively small one, but for being small it was complicated. Since they figured any tracker that could be wore like a watch or attached to clothing would be found and taken off. So they (or more like Mikey with his random but occasionally helpful ideas) decided to create a tracker that was safe to swallow.

"So what are you doing again Einstein?" Raph asked, looking over the turtle's shoulder.

"I'm making the tracker so that when one of us swallows it it'll enter our digestive system," Don said without looking away from the pill shaped tracker. "It will start to dissolve until its nothing but particles and be absorbed into the body along with the nutrients from any other food. Those particles will be what sends out the signal to a receiver" he vaguely gestured towards his Shell Cell that was sitting on the far corner of his work space "in this case it'll be any of our Shell Cells, along with the extra walkie talkies I'm planning on fixing up to pick up the specific signal so we'll all have a receiver."

"…uh- okay?"

Don sighed and tried to think of a simple, but accurate, enough comparison. "Basically the tracker's turning the body into a radio tower that's sending out wave signals, and all we'll have to do is follow those signals and we'll find where the scientists have set up shop."

"Oh," Raph said in a kind of understanding.

"There's still a question we haven't answered yet," Razor pointed out. "Who's taking the tracker?"

"Any volunteers?" Mikey asked. No one moved. "Anyone?"

"Give it to me."

"We've already been over this," Leo said.

Razor crossed his arms. "No one else is willing to go, and Alex is banned from outside, so why not? It's not like I've got anything to lose," he added.

"But what if we lose you?" Mikey asked.

Razor looked at the youngest ninja. That was the problem of getting sucked into some kind of family relationship, it's impossible to do anything suicidal without thinking about the ones that'll miss you.

"Hey, speaking of Alex, where is she?" Leo said looking around; he hadn't seen the girl in a while.

"Sulking, probably," Razor said. "Telling a flier they aren't allowed in the sky is like telling me I'm not allowed to touch water, someone banning you guys from your weapons along with going topside. The restrictions can be handled, but they're not going to be enjoyable."

Fifteen minutes later Dev suddenly appeared in the middle of the living room holding used spray paint cans. He looked disoriented and stumbled to the couch to fall more than plop down. His graffiti job was done and now he was ready to just sleep off his physical injuries for a couple years. Moments later Gorf appeared carrying the duffle bag Bomber had put the bomb in. This time it was filled with things like his hard drive, blue prints, notes, his favorite set of tools and blanket, along with the small assortment of clothes he owned. Some extended minutes after Gorf's arrival Bomber appeared with a tired out Jack at his side. Passed all the bruises Bomber looked satisfied as Jack dragged himself to the couch and curled up by Dev.

"How'd it go?" Razor asked.

"It was pretty smooth; there weren't any search parties at the docks yet. The bomb should go off in the next couple of minutes," Bomber said.

Sure enough a short while later the news blared about an explosion by the river. Dev's colorful 'artwork' was shown saying 'I'M NOT AFRAID OF YOU GO BACK TO THE HOLE YOU CAME FROM!' painted on the front door, the only part of the building that hadn't been obliterated. Bomber smiled at the aftereffects of a successful bomb.

Gorf went over to Don. "How's the tracker coming along?"

"Considering there's no way to actually test the safety of swallowing it, I'm taking my time," Don said.

"And you should. No sense in poisoning one of us," Gorf agreed. "You got an approximate time for completion?"

"It should be done by tomorrow night at the latest."

"Want any help?"

"Pull up a chair."

* * *

Sorry I kind of left you guys hanging there and then stopped writing, so I added the recap to remind you what was happening. And since school started and I am now a Freshman and trying to figure this whole 'high school' thing out, along with possible after school activities and damned studying my writing time will probably be cut short. I'll keep updating, but probably not as quickly. Though I'll try and that's practically all I can do becuase I'm still not making promises that I'll probably break.

Anyway, it sounds like Razor's going to be stuck with the tracker. Or will he? Read and find out!

REVIEW!


	13. Damn Rebel

**Chapter Twelve**

**Damn Rebel**

As hours passed and night turned into day things only got worse for the experiments. Specially designed holding units and weapons were given to the authorities while full scale search parties were set out all over the world. It seemed nowhere was safe as established homes were broke into looking for the inhuman inhabitants. Most fled while some fought back in self defense, the army was called in to take in resistance. Some humans felt the need to take matters into their own hands, proving that these 'creatures' weren't invincible and merely mortal.

It was turning into an attempted worldwide holocaust.

There wasn't much activity left on the experiments' chat site. Some of the users were already captured and being sent to New York, most were being pushed into the more desolate parts of the world, while a few seemed to just drop from existence itself.

All of this was happening in only a twenty-four hour time span. It was horrific, and even somewhat painful just to think what was going to happen in days to come. There were only a few hundred experiments in existence. They were terrifyingly outnumbered with the population of humanity. If something wasn't done fast there possibly wouldn't be any left come next month.

There had to be some way to get the world to understand that they weren't an opposing threat. But how? How do you plead your case to a jury that was using their first impression as earplugs?

The first logical thing was to get a spokes person, but the only one trustworthy and pacifist enough was already in the clutches of the scientists. So the very first logical thing to do was get him back. That was the reason the little, reckless thief did what she did.

With each other's help, Don and Gorf finished the tracker sooner than they first thought, but they still wanted to wait for darkness to fall so it would be easier to follow the volunteering bait, and so the bait was with the scientists for the shortest amount of time possible.

When the second night of exposure finally fell it was time.

"Just don't make it obvious," Dev said as Razor tried not to think about what he was doing exactly.

"Uh, we might have a problem," Don said.

"What could it possibly be now?" Bomber asked.

"The tracker's gone," Gorf said.

"And I thought I lost things easily," Mikey said.

"We didn't lose it," Don said.

"It didn't just up and walk away," Raph said.

"Well technically…"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Dev asked.

"Well I can't exactly prove it but…" Don said slowly. "We haven't really seen Alex all day."

Razor put a hand over his face. "God, please don't tell me…"

...--... ...--... ...--... ...--... ...--... ...--... ...--...

_Of all the nights for a blasted storm to come in! Perfect timing isn't it God?_

Lightening flashed, thunder followed shortly after as if in reply.

_You are so cliché, you know that?_

More thunder.

_Just making sure we're on the same page here. Now then, where are the cops when you actually need them?_

The dark figure crouched on the edge of the roof looking down at the street below. The city was eerily empty from normal civilians. Hiding inside their homes no doubt, not sure what was lurking in the shadows just outside their door. If only they knew the true side of the story…

Lightening flashed.

The figure sighed, pushing away last minute doubts what she was doing. It wasn't exactly bad. And if she was doing it, then no one else would have to.

After a moment Alex took off into the wet skies. The way she figured it the cops wouldn't be that hard to find. Not only would they more than likely be the only cars patrolling the streets, but a lot of them would probably have their lights on to signal other cops that they were human.

It was so odd that, after spending years, including the ten years before she even met the turtles, hiding from the cops and now that she was ready to practically throw herself at their feet they were nowhere in sight!

Twenty minutes were spent hunting for the authorities before Alex had to call for a rest. Getting soaked from the rain and starting to shiver from it, she crouched on top of a streetlight. New York had never seemed so quiet. The silence that controlled the streets seemed unreal. It was like people were expecting a sudden mass murder to happen now that the experiments were out in the open.

With a shiver that went from the base of her skull to the tip of her tail, Alex dropped down to the sidewalk, landing in a puddle with a splash. Hands stuffed down pockets, tail and wings tucked under her shirt, shoulders hunched, head hanging low underneath a hood, she quickly walked down the street with the air of someone hiding something and trying to get somewhere without getting caught. And, just to make sure someone saw her, she walked straight down the middle of the road. If someone didn't see her now then the world had gone blind.

Finally a few minutes later her shadow appeared before her. But the sudden light through the rain wasn't big enough to be headlights. When she stopped the sound of footsteps running up to her caught her attention.

"Hey, are you nuts?" the person said as they stopped right behind her. It was a guy by sound of the voice. "Haven't you seen the news? It's dangerous out here!" he hissed like if he talked too loudly some dark predator would hear and follow.

_Might as well get the public's opinion first… _she thought to herself. "Why?" she asked without turning around to face him. "Why is it any more dangerous than before? Nothing's changed."

"Wha- everything's changed! Those things from yesterday were just a few from hundreds!"

"How do you know these… _creatures_," she said with a growing edge in her voice. "Have only just shown up? Are they only dangerous because you know they're out there now?"

There was a quick moment of silence, and Alex could practically hear him shake his head. "Wh-whatever man, stay out here and get eaten if ya want."

_Eaten?! What the hell kind of rumors is Ambrose spreading? _"Eaten? I won't get eaten."

"Yeah, what makes you so sure?"

"Well for one: they don't eat people," she said and put a foot behind her ankle. "And two" she dramatically turned around to face him "I'm one of 'em."

As the man's flashlight turned up to look beneath her hood she spread her wings out in a quick flourish. She didn't have to bother with her tail. At the sight of the twelve-and-a-half-foot wingspan the man dropped his flashlight as he stumbled back and almost fell on his face as he turned and ran like the seat of his pants were on fire.

"Smooth," a familiar voice said.

Alex snatched up the flashlight and looked around. The voice had come from the left. Flipping the flashlight off she walked towards the voice and neared an alley.

"You practice tha' in a mirror?"

"Hey Raph, how'd you find me?"

"Instead of waiting for some tracker ta turn on, I prefer to do my hunting the ol' fashion way," the turtle said as he stood, shoulder leaning against the wall, arms crossed. "An' it wasn't tha' hard either. Bu' I gotta say, since it's near impossible ta follow something in the sky while on the ground, you can be a real pain in the ass to follow."

Alex shrugged. "Eh, you're a pain in a lot of people's asses yourself."

"So do you really have the tracker, or did Don just lose it?"

Alex dug into her pants pocket and produced the pill sized device. "I have it. Like I said, I'm probably going to be grounded for the rest of my life, and that's a pretty long time. So might as well go down with a bang."

"Hmh," Raph gave a small smile - though it wasn't visible in the dark. He honestly couldn't have said it better himself.

"And besides," she clinched a fist "I still have a few things to give Ambrose."

"So, just tell me 'ere, what the hell are you trying to do out in the rain like this?"

Alex put the tracker back in her pocket. "Look'n for the cops." She turned and looked around the corner of the alley. There was still nothing in the streets except for rain water filling up the gutters. "Its freak'n ironic how when you're trying to get caught there's no one there to catch you." That's when a thought struck her like the lightning striking the clouds above. She slapped a hand over her face.

"Finally figure out ya shoulda just gone ta the p'lice station?"

"Shut up…" she muttered and grabbed the ladder of a fire escape. When she reached the roof the old fashioned way a figure was waiting for her.

"By the way, I'm supposed to tell you not to die."

"Raph, you know I hate it when you do that."

"Not my fault you're so slow."

Alex shook her head. She needed to go before her sanity kicked in and she lost her nerve of handing herself in. But she had to ask "Why am I not supposed to die?"

"'Cause Razor wants to kill you when he sees ya."

Alex smiled. "I figured as much." She walked to the edge of the building and turned back to the turtle. "Oh, and tell everyone when you guys come and find me to be careful."

"We're not that clumsy," Raph said. "Well, Mikey might be," he added.

"I just don't wanna find someone-that-I-know's intestines in a glass jar."

"Speak for yerself, '_demon'_."

Alex smirked, said "Sir, yes sir," and fell backwards off the four story building.

...--... ...--... ...--... ...--... ...--... ...--... ...--...

"God damn it."

"Language."

"Zip it Mikey."

"Oh come on, what's the worst that could happen?"

"I could tell you _exactly_ what can happen, but Jack's in the room."

"You know that damned rebel better than any of us, Razor," Dev said while building a house of cards on the floor with Jack. He had gotten to the fourth level when Jack's hand slipped and knocked the whole thing down. "You know that if someone flat out tells her she can't go anywhere she's more than likely to leave."

"And the ninja training only helps her slip out unnoticed," Gorf commented.

"She's not the only one," Leo said, looking at Raph who had just walked in.

Razor continued to pace with crossed arms as they waited for the tracker to turn on. There was no point in going topside until they knew where they were going.

"Man Razor, pace anymore and you're gonna dent the floor," Don said.

"If I didn't know any better I'd say the shark's got some special feelings for the bat," Bomber joked.

"What?!" Razor exclaimed.

"Well there was that _one time_ at Christmas…" Mikey said with a growing smile, happy to loosen the growing tension in the air.

"Christmas, huh?" Dev said with a smirk.

"Mikey!" Razor yelled like he had been betrayed.

"Under the mistletoe too."

"Raph!"

"Guys stop it," Leo said. "You're making him blush."

Razor's hands covered his cheeks. "I am not!"

Dev and Bomber looked at each other. No force on Earth could hold their laughter in.

"Shut up!"

...--... ...--... ...--... ...--... ...--... ...--... ...--...

_Come on Alex, what's the worse they can do to you? _Numerous possibilities passed through her mind as she stood pressed against the wall of an alley. Last second thoughts were touching the sides of her mind. When she was taken to wherever the scientists had started reconstructing, the best case scenario was getting mutated again.

She shook her head. _Okay, let's think of something else: you're doing this for friends - for Psych and Eli and whoever may be in the new Labs. You're doing this so there won't be anymore experiments in the future, so no one else has to live through what you have. So you can destroy who dared to create you… oh yeah, I like that reason._

With a deep breath, Alex pulled the hood of her sweatshirt down farther over her face and ran through the rain, across the street and stopped in front of the steps. A second deep breath later, she threw the tracker in her mouth and swallowed. Hoping it was working, she started up the steps and walked through the doors.

Dripping on the aluminum, she walked up to the front desk looking down at the black and white floor. "Excuse me."

"Yes what is it?" the man behind the desk asked with a voice that said "this had better be good".

"I know the whereabouts of one of the… creatures," she hated using the word to describe herself and others, but she wasn't sure if Ambrose had said they were escaped science experiments or not.

"And where might that be?" the man's mouth was saying, but his voice said "out with it already, I've got too much to deal with at the moment."

With a third deep breath Alex said "Right in front of you." Uncurling her tail and pulling her wings out proved to be enough to convince the police. There were officers at her sides in seconds, grabbing her arms and handcuffing her wrists behind her back. Someone held her tail down by stepping on one of the blades as the ones that had handcuffed her held her wings down. Someone patted her down for concealed weapons not attached to her body before she was pushed out of the front room.

Even though the experiment wasn't fighting back, and would only need one person to lead the way, she was trapped in the middle of five police officers. A gun barrel was jammed against her spine, and her tail had been tied to her calf so it was awkwardly pulled with every other step.

She was taken down a hallway, shoved through an opened door and felt something small suddenly stab a spot beside her shoulder blade.

The door behind her closed with a hurried slam and not long after her legs started to weaken. As she hit her knees her mind dulled, the pain from the stab fading until it was gone while the room spun. With a groan she fell forward clutching her stomach in a cold sweat. Waves of nausea washed over her and pushed her lunch onto the floor. She turned her face away from the disgusting lumpy puddle and slowly slipped into a black, nauseous limbo.

* * *

That can't be good, oh I wonder what's happened to our favorite winged, ax-tailed expirement now??

Aw man, high school's got me whipped! Advanced English is fine, and I'm doing okay in French, I can even reciet the french alphabet. But Geography's got me stumped, its evil I tell you! Just evil! Anyway, my updates probably won't be very fast for the next couple of weeks as I try and get into the groove of things. There's also the fact that my cousin just moved into the dorms of the college in my town so I'll be spending time with him, and we'll be moving next month out of the duplex we've been living in and into an actual house!! XD And I'm a stage hand in the school play, so I'll have to go to the practices and help build the set and things like that. Gawd, I don't think I've ever been this busy in the beginging of a school year! What's High school doing to me! AAAAAAHHHHHH!!

Anyway, I'll be going now becuase its 1 in the morning and I'm kind of tired at the moment. I'll be seeing you guys later...

REVIEW!! come on, please??


	14. Retrieval

**Chapter Thirteen**

**Retrieval**

_BVVVVVVV-BVVVVVVV-BVVVVVVV_

Five out of six hunks of wires and plastic vibrated simultaneously. The owners of each Shell Cell looked at the phones as they stood scattered on different rooftops so they would be harder to spot. The sixth Shell Cell's panic button had been pushed, immediately after sirens could be heard nearby.

"Ten bucks says it's Gorf," Bomber said as he looked at the device in Raph's hand.

"Five says it's Razor," Dev said, landing beside the two, wondering why everyone stopped. They had been heading towards what could be believed as the new Labs when the tracker had turned on. This time they were determined to complete the rescue mission without getting kidnapped in the process. The determination included Don bringing a waterproof duffle bag of technological toys, and Gorf passing out the laser guns he had saved before his warehouse was blown up.

At first it was thought that Splinter would come for both the reasons of knowing his sons were okay, and to aid them in combat, but it was decided of him to stay behind so Jack wasn't left alone in the lair.

A name flashed on the screen of each phone.

"You owe me ten bucks," Bomber said with a smirk.

"Yeah I'll get ya that when I have a job."

...--...

Splashing through the streets the frog-boy ran for his life. Becoming blinded by the rain he was running face first into he zoomed down the road, headlights pointed at his back.

Sharply turning, he ran down an alley, though he didn't get far as a rope split three ways, metal balls tied to the each end, wrapped around his legs and he fell to the ground. Heart hammering against his chest, blood pounding in his ears, he turned over and sat up to rip the rope off. But before he could untangle himself headlights blinded him worse than the rain could.

Lifting an arm up to his eyes and squinting through the bright light and falling rain, he managed to see two dark figures cautiously start his way. He tried to scramble backwards, but the movement wasn't very fast with bound legs.

The figure that got to him first yanked him up by the shirt. The man was only a few inches taller than Gorf, so Gorf tried a tactic he always wondered about. Sucking mucus down from his nose and mixing it with his saliva he spat in the man's face, managing to hit him in the eye.

With a colorful exclamation of surprise the man dropped him. The other man reached for a gun, but when he pulled it there was nothing on the ground to shoot.

"Nice move, dude!" Mikey exclaimed, slapping Gorf on the back as they stood safely on a rooftop.

"Gorf, tell me you didn't just hock a loogie in that police officer's face," Leo said as he pulled the rope off the boy's ankles.

"I'm a technician, and a frog to boot, I don't have very many defenses when it comes to combat," Gorf said.

"I guess, combined with your glue-like saliva it can be an effective last resort," Don said thoughtfully "though it's still disgusting."

"Hey, my diet consists of live insects, what do you expect?"

"Frog we told you to stay outta the street," Raph said after jumping onto the growing crowded roof.

"I wasn't in the street," Gorf defended, rubbing an ankle where the rope had cut into his skin. "I tripped and fell off the building," he moved his hand to rub his head. "Lucky for me there was a cop car to break my fall."

"You okay?" Don asked, helping him up.

"Yeah I'm fine," Gorf said and started forward. "Come on, no one deserves to be in the Labs for more than a few minutes, let alone a couple of hours."

The group continued on through the steady rain, following a map set up on the Shell Cells and fixed up walkie-talkies. After fifteen minutes of dodging cops and normal civilians that aren't afraid of a bunch of freaks, they found where the tracker's signal was originating from.

"Under a day care center, you have gotta be kiddin' me," Raph said as they looked at the building across the street.

"Well Alex is down there," Don said. "I can't think of a reason the tracker could be separated from her body."

"I can think of a few," Razor said sadly.

Mikey shuddered and quickly shook his head. "Seriously dude, I'd rather not have the mental pictures."

"I wouldn't be too worried about anything mental for you, Mike," Raph said.

"Come on already," Dev said, stepping onto the edge of the roof. "Let's just get this over with."

"Agreed, let's go," Leo said and led the way off the roof.

"I don't remember anyone appointing a commander," Bomber commented.

"We need someone to lead the way, and Leo's good enough at it," Razor shrugged.

"Whatever lover-boy…"

Razor glared at him. "Call me that one more time, I dare ya."

Bomber smirked at the new found nerve. "Lover-boy."

Razor made to move forward with clinched fists, but Gorf grabbed him from behind.

"Come on Razor, both of us know this isn't a good time."

When they managed to get across the street into an alley without being seen, they had a problem of finding the Lab's entrance.

"This is gonna take forever," Mikey complained. 'We don't even know what we're looking for."

"Try behind a dumpster, or a large piece of discolored wall that can be moved," Dev suggested as he stood safely in a doorway avoiding the rain.

"Why aren't you looking?" Bomber asked sharply.

"Not only am I still recovering from the injuries _you _gave me," Dev said matter-of-factly, "there's the fact that I hate water in most forms, especially when it's hitting me in the head. And hey, you got my moral support, right?" he asked, leaning against the door behind him, when the door suddenly gave way and he started falling backwards. "Hey!" he exclaimed while reaching out for anything solid to hold onto. His fingers found the doorknob and reflexively curled around it, holding on for life.

"You okay?"

"Don't make me answer that…" Dev growled as he practically hung there staring down a long slope that was quickly swallowed by darkness. It was no doubt the entrance they were looking for. A coupled of hands pulled the experiment back to flat land.

"Talk about the first step being a doosey," Mikey said.

"To think, I thought no one ever used that saying," Bomber said as he stared down into the darkness.

"Anyone got a flashlight?" Razor asked.

Don reached into his duffle bag and pulled out a plastic tube. "I got a few twelve hour glow sticks."

"Hey, where'd you get those?" Mikey asked.

"I've had them for a while."

"And you never let me have a few?" Mikey said, sounding shocked and hurt.

"What, so you can treat them like light sabers and reenact Star Wars scenes?"

"And the problem with that is…?"

Razor rolled his eyes and cracked the glow stick after taking it from Don. Receiving a bright green glow after shaking it up, he rolled the stick down the steep slide. The glow kept shrinking as the stick continued down.

"That's a long way down," Leo commented after a short while.

"Okay frog, you're up," Raph said and suddenly shoved Gorf through the doorway.

"Raph!" Leo exclaimed sharply.

"What, he didn't go nowhere," Raph said pointing. As the turtle expected, Gorf lay on the slope five feet from where they stood, naturally sticky hands and spread toes pressed to the smooth surface keeping him in place.

"So not cool, Raph!" Gorf yelled up.

"Just' go down, see wat's there, and climb back up," Raph called back.

There was a moment of silence before the soft sound of movement floated away from them. Now there was nothing to do but wait as Gorf awkwardly crab walked down the slope. The time was spent with Dev sitting in a large cardboard box hiding from the rain, Razor lying on the ground enjoying the rain, Bomber crouched in the corner not caring either way about the rain, Mikey begging Don if he could have a glow stick, and Leo telling an inattentive Raph how irresponsible it was to shove a comrade down an unknown hole.

After a very long and very wet minute buzzing sounded under the steady patter of raindrops; it was the Shell Cells' panic ring.

...--... ...--... ...--... ...--... ...--... ...--... ...--...

If reality was something solid, something that could be grabbed and held in one's hands, it felt like someone had coated reality in soap, making it slippery and heard to grasp. But even though most of her mind was stuck in limbo, what little bit was present was beyond miserable.

From what she could understand, she was sitting against a large pole, and tied to it by a chain running across her chest and shoulders. Her head was hung down in nausea and the fact it felt too heavy for her neck. In front of her was a puddle of vomit sitting between her spread legs. The smell that wafted up to her was enough to get her to throw up more, but there was nothing left to give but stomach acid.

It hurt to think, her throat burned, it felt like gravity had tripled, yanking her body down. The room spun nonstop. She felt ready to faint but some force kept her from the bliss of unconsciousness.

Another shallow, fowl smelling breath added stomach acid to the disgusting puddle before her, and her unfocused eyes searched the pile of vomit for a heart - or at least a lung.

...--... ...--... ...--... ...--... ...--... ...--... ...--...

"Remember all those times I've said it would be cool to be in a Sci-Fi movie?" Mikey asked as he ran down a metal hall.

"Yeah," Don said as he ran beside his brother.

"Well I've changed my mind!" Mikey exclaimed as he jumped around a corner in the hall, lasers that had been running from hit the wall before the turn. The two stood there against the wall for a moment. When the muscle men rounded the corner they attacked swiftly and put the two men to sleep for the next couple hours.

When the group had slid down the shaft to respond to Gorf's panic signal they were met with a squadron of muscle men that had been waiting for them, Gorf tied up in their grasp.

The battle that quickly followed had been confusing with a lot of movement in a small space. Don had moved out of the room they had landed in to get some elbow room while Mikey had been thrown out of the room by a blow to the chest, lasers quickly following him. The two ran knowing wooden weapons wouldn't be very useful against streaks of heated energy.

Don looked around the corner from where they had come. The sound of fighting down the hall couldn't be heard anymore. "Come on, but be ready," he said and led Mikey back to where they had left the group.

Getting to the doorway of the room they had all fallen in they found the muscle men lying on the floor.

"Everyone okay?" Leo asked.

"I… think so," Gorf said rubbing his wrists.

"No!" Dev said heatedly, shaking his wings and pulling at loose feathers. "Why the hell does this keep happening?!"

As Bomber chuckled to himself, Leo looked at his Shell Cell for the tracker signal. "Come on guys, the sooner we find Alex the sooner we can end this whole thing."

They exited the room and started down a very bleak hallway.

Razor shuddered. "Man, this place looks just like the old Labs, I'm getting flashbacks."

"That makes two of us," Gorf said rubbing an arm.

"No, this place is worse," Dev muttered.

The group of mutants and experiments ventured through the twisting halls. It was like a metal labyrinth. Finally they turned a corner and Don said "Alex should be right down here."

"I remember this place," Dev said. It was the hallway he had been pushed down by a muscle man when he was moved to be in the same room with Bomber. The same doors lined the walls.

"Is there anyone else behind these doors?" Don asked.

"Don't know," Dev shrugged. "Unless you want to pry every door open you'll probably never know."

"Oh, I have a better idea!" Mikey said.

Raph crossed his arms. "This oughta be good."

"Allow me to demonstrate the power of big lungs," Mikey said, sounding very professional, though what he did next was very juvenile. He ran to each door and started pounding on them yelling at the top of his lungs "HELLOOOOO!! ANYONE IN THERE??"

"Okay, honestly," Dev said, pointing. "Is he really a ninja?"

...--...

Old grey eyes snapped open to surrounding darkness. The boy lifted his head at pounding on the door.

He closed his eye again in concentration, pushing a train of thought on a few rusting tracks. The reply was one word from eight different voices: _Psych?!_

Now that he had found their minds their thoughts washed over him in a wave of different attitudes and personalities.

One of them came up with a way to figure which door he was behind, after a moment there was knocking on the door to his cell.

_That one… _he told them.

A minute later the door opened and light spilled into the pitch black room. Dark figures appeared against the bright light.

"I think I found the light switch," a familiar voice said. With the sound of a click the room filled with light causing Psych to flinch as he squeezed his eyes shut again. "Oh- sorry."

_That's… okay… _Psych said, squinting at the floor trying to make his eyes adjust.

In the light, the little-kid-of-a-body didn't look too good with fading bruises on his arms that were tied behind his back with chains, and darkened eyes that told of little to no sleep in days. He didn't have his scarf on, and the sight of smooth skin instead of a mouth was still stomach upsetting for most.

"Are you okay?" Leo asked as he stepped forward with a sword ready. The chains didn't stand a chance against the blade.

Psych rubbed the sores on his wrists that the chains had left. _I'm better than my next door neighbor…_

Bomber stepped forward, holding out the black and red scarf that had been thrown in the corner. "Psych, I'm…"

_No need to apologize, _Psych assured him as Leo helped him up. _It may be hard to believe but things could always be worse. Even for people with our kind of luck. _Taking his scarf from Bomber he worked it around his neck, the end of it hanging down his back like a cape as always.

"Who's next door?" Dev asked thinking of Double D and Terry.

"Alex?!"

Razor and Mikey were the first ones to run into the hall. Don and Gorf had already started working on the next door with their gadgets to crack the locks. They had the door open and Gorf leaning against the wall covering his eyes. When Razor reached the open doorway he had to cover his nose against the rank smell of vomit. But even with the stench he went in the room.

The lights were on unlike the other cells, as if to show off the experiment's bad state of being. Though Alex's skin had always been pale now she almost looked like PC - the boy whose skin was practically transparent. Between her legs was a disgustingly chunky puddle of puke. Her wings were Duct Taped to her back like Dev's had been. Her body sagged against a pole that ran from floor to ceiling with her head hung down in what could almost be interpreted as defeat.

Trying not to breathe through his nose, Razor walked forward and bent down at her sides to cut the chains binding her to the pole with his teeth.

Unfocused eyes struggled to follow him. "Ra… zor?" Alex tried to say with a raspy voice that came as barely a whisper.

"Damn it Alex," Razor said pulling the chains off. "This is why we didn't want you to take the tracker."

"Ra… ther… you… than me?"

Razor lightly chewed his lip. "Yeah," he said. "Rather me than you."

The girl's lips twitched in a sad attempt at a smile. "Thanks…"

"For what?" Razor asked but he didn't get an answer. A surge of panic rose in him at the sight of Alex not moving with closed eyes. "Alex?!"

_She's only unconscious… _Psych's voice assured him. _First time since she got here, actually. I don't mean to sound rushed or anything, but someone grab her and lets go before we have muscle men on our backs. And no offense Raph, but I'd rather no live to witness their 'best shot'._

...--... ...--... ...--... ...--... ...--... ...--... ...--...

Cards fall to the floor as legs collapse. Small hands cover ears but it doesn't help.

Screams and sirens blare at mind splitting volumes. Crashes and explosions rattle his thought sand threat to tear him apart. Voices call to him, yell for him through the darkness.

Faces flash by. Places flicker by too fast to comprehend.

The noises rise, pounding into his head, becoming trapped in his skull where they echo and multiply.

Then suddenly, just like that, they're gone, leaving the boy kneeling on the cold floor in confusion, pain and tears.

He looks around but he knows his security blanket isn't here, he's out there, somewhere with Nick and Tyler and Skyler and Jeff…

"Jack?"

The boy looked up to see the old rat standing there. Jack stumbled to his feet in a run to Splinter. Upon collision he dug his face into the aged master's robes. "So many sounds… Too loud…"

"It is quiet here."

"They're here, but they're not," Jack sobbed in the same confusion he had just given Splinter.

Against what Jack claims to hear, the lair was silent. The only sound was that of the refrigerator humming quietly to itself.

Then there was another sound. It was the elevator that led up to the garage housing the armored truck. Splinter looked at the large stone door on the wall. Only his family, April, Casey and Gorf knew where the surface opening was. April and Casey were out looking for any experiments that could be on the streets before the police got them, and everyone else was looking for Alex. Could they really be back so soon?

When the doors slid open the two were met with a metallic sight and Jack quickly hid behind Splinter's back at the sight of the five foot bird-robots.

* * *

XO yawn I'm going to bed...

REVIEW!


	15. Allience?

**Chapter Fourteen**

**Alliance?**

"That's not fair, you'd never let me on your back."

"There are two reasons to that, frog. One: if you haven't noticed _you're taller than me! _And two: I actually like Psych."

Gorf stuck his tongue out so far that the tip almost touched his chest and sucked it back in when Bomber swiped at it.

"Try that again, I dare ya," the boy threatened with a shaking fist.

Psych tried not to roll his eyes as he rode on Bomber's back; the reason for Gorf's whine of unfairness.

"Okay children, don't make us separate you," Mikey said.

"Children?" the four experiments able to speak said together.

"If you haven't quite gotten the idea yet," Dev said. "We're all older than you four. What are you guys now, eighteen?"

"There's a large gap between the age of someone's maturity and the time they were born," Don said as they walked down the bleak metal hallway. In all truth it wasn't exactly the best time or place to be discussing their age differences, but the pointless conversations were keeping most of their minds off the memories born from hallways much similar to this one.

At the moment they were trying to find an exit due to Alex's current state of health. Cradled unconscious in Leo's arms, she didn't seem to be getting any better even with her regenerating abilities. Not only were the noticeable paleness of her skin and the occasional vomit of stomach acid and dry heaves concerning, but so was the heat they could practically feel radiating off her forehead without even touching her skin. The only reasonable guess to what could be wrong was some kind of poisoning, and they needed to get the basically defenseless body to a safe location before they attempted an assassination for Ambrose. The only problem was that when they went back the way they had come they couldn't find the doorway that led to the room they had first fallen into, and it didn't help that none of them knew the layout of these halls.

"How old are you guys anyway?" Mikey asked, trying to keep the conversation going. It was like a safety barrier to keep him from concentrating on their current situation.

"Twenty-two," Bomber said.

"Twenty-five," Dev shrugged.

"Twenty-seven," Razor said keeping his eyes on the floor so he couldn't look at Alex.

"Twenty-one," Gorf said, then Psych had to blow them out of the water.

_Two hundred seventy-one…_

"You don't count," Gorf said.

This time Psych really did roll his eyes, cheeks twitching in as far a smile as he could get.

"Ha see? Compared to Psych you guys really are children, or would it be more like infants?" Mikey said and received a smack from Raph. "Ow! What was that for?"

"It felt overdue."

Razor shook his head. He just couldn't get into the conversation, his mind continuously going back to the fact that even after they had destroyed the Labs a bunch of scientists were still screwing with their lives, may they be artificial or not.

Then he heard it: the sound of metal on metal. And he wasn't the only one. Leo stopped as Dev turned around. In question the others caught on and looked behind them. Standing there, a few yards behind them, were two of the bird-robots.

"Hey Dev, you're relatives are here," Raph said.

Gorf took some steps back. "You know guys; I'm really starting to miss the old bug robots." Backing up further he ran into a solid. Feeling the nervous film start on his fingers he slowly turned around and was met nose to barrel with a gun.

"Ambrose is getting tired of messing with you lot. Don't think I won't pull the trigger."

Gorf put his hands up. "C-can I just say something first?"

"What is it?"

"You got something on your face."

"And it's called my foot!" Dev yelled and kicked the man in the face.

Now the only thing they had to worry about was the robots. In truth they'd prefer five men over two mechanical birds.

"I'm startin' ta get real tired of these things!" Raph exclaimed, twirling his sias.

"You're not the only one," Bomber said.

"Lets just put these things down before more come," Leo said, setting Alex on the floor against the wall and drew his swords.

Together, the four ninja and Razor jumped forward in attack, while Dev backed them up with a gun. Keeping clear of the gun holes in the bids' chests, they quickly turned the robots into lifeless piles of metal on the floor.

Alex groaned something as Don reached to pick her up.

"What?"

"Pss… ych…"

"Oh crap," Bomber muttered, looking around to see that the little boy was nowhere to be seen in the hall.

"_Bomber!_" numerous voices exclaimed.

"What?" Bomber said harshly. "It's completely my fault that I take my eyes off him one second and he's gone," his voice dripped with sarcasm.

"Yes," Dev said. "Alex can't keep her eyes open and _she_ noticed he's gone!"

"What about you?" Bomber snapped. "You were just standing there!"

"I was busy trying not to shoot Mike through the head," Dev said hotly, pointing at Mikey with the gun holding hand. Leo quickly pulled his brother out of the possible bullet path in the likely event of a tightening fist pulling the trigger.

Gorf tried to step in. "Guys, this isn't the bes-"

"Stay out of it bug breath!" the two yelled together.

"Is it just me or are they starting to sound like Raph and Leo?" Mikey asked Don and received two whacks upside the head. "Ow!"

Gorf tried to step in again. "Guys come on-"

"Shut up!"

"Hey," Leo said in defense of their friend, annoying or not, Gorf didn't deserve to be yelled at. But it seemed Gorf didn't need defending.

"No you shut up!" he yelled at them. "Alex is sick, Psych's gone, and while we're wandering around down here lost our friends up on the surface are being hunted down or, for all we know, _killed _in a worldwide holocaust-type-thing! This is not the F'ing time for you two to start yelling at each other, when something goes wrong! And instead of biting each other's heads off we_ should _be finding out where Psych went and find him so we can get the hell outta here!"

Bomber and Dev looked taken aback. Dev's jaw had even slightly dropped.

"Feel better?" Raph asked.

Gorf swallowed. "Much." Then he stepped forward and swiped the gun from Dev's hand, "and gimme that before you give someone a forth breathing hole." With the gun in hand Gorf started walking past the still stunned experiment.

"Wait…" Alex rasped as Don started to pick her up again.

"What?" Razor asked.

"Trap…"

"What trap?" Leo asked.

Alex shook her head with a grimace of discomfort. "Trap… door…" At that everyone's eyes dropped to the floor as if they were pulled by weights.

"Where?"

"Gor…" she started but chose then to pass out again, but it was obvious what she had wanted to say.

Gorf quickly jumped back, unknowing that he would have been safe if he had just stood still. When his weight hit the floor the ground pressed down and suddenly slid to the side out from under him. With a gasp he started falling and saved himself by barely catching the floor with the fingers of one hand.

Staring down between his feet he found a dark tunnel with no light at the end. He could feel thick moisture surrounding his legs - a mist coming from vents placed on the walls of the shaft at intervals. This mist collected on the steel around him making the surface too slippery even for his skin to get enough traction, leaving him with nothing but fingertips. Though a pair of hands thankfully wrapped around his wrist and pulled him up.

Mikey whistled as he looked down the black hole. "That's a long way down."

"Do you think that's where Psych went?" Dev asked.

"If it is then it's hopefully a soft landing," Razor said. "I haven't heard a word from him, you guys?"

Headshakes were passed around.

Suddenly a loud _clang_ made the group turn around. A wall had appeared blocking off where they had just come, turning into where they were standing a dead end.

"That can't be good," Don said.

A similar _clang_ sounded behind them. Turning to where they had been facing they saw another wall. The two walls transformed their hallway into a narrow rectangular room, the only opening being in the floor. Then, as if to make matters worse the two walls started coming towards each other, sure to crush the bodies in the middle if they didn't get out of the way.

"Defiantly not good!" Mikey exclaimed.

The first impulse was Raph, Dev, Bomber and Razor to run to the wall on their side of the trapdoor and press against it, as if their strength could push it back.

"Why do- the movies- always have to be right- about the booby-traps?" Razor growled.

"Because it makes our lives harder," Raph answered.

"Any ideas Commander?" Bomber asked.

"I'm guessing he means you," Don said to Leo.

Leo looked from right to left. The free space around them was rapidly shrinking. "The only thing we can do: jump."

"Che, after you oh fearless leader," Raph said.

Looking from left to right again, as if hoping a doorway would just appear in one of the walls - though of course it wouldn't, that would only make things easy for them - Leo gave a quick sigh of hesitation and frustration, and jumped into the trapdoor.

Knowing all too well what could when things like this happens in the movies, Mikey followed suit. Gorf was next, then Don while tightly holding Alex in his arms. The remaining four quickly followed before the walls pushed together.

...--... ...--... ...--... ...--... ...--... ...--... ...--...

The smell of salt.

The sound of water.

The feel of forever shifting sand.

And voices…

"…huge storm last night."

"I'll say, my roof started leaking again."

"And to think I thought you wet your bed."

"I've never wet my bed, asshole."

"Whatever you say." Laughter.

"Rrr… what are we looking for anyway?"

"Anything. A storm like that, something's bound to have washed up."

"And if we're lucky a ship wrecked!"

"I hope it's a cargo ship and not a cruise liner, all those people to take care of, ugh."

"If a cruise liner crashed I think we'd know by now."

"True- hey look over there!"

"Whoa, now that's a wreck."

"Ah the artwork of the sea…"

"Artwork my tail, I hope there's still food on board! Especially peanut butter, oh let there be peanut butter."

"And you wonder why you keep getting constipated…"

The sound of metal being pushed and crashing. Wood breaks, water splashing. Then an unexpected discovery.

"Hey Tyler, I found something!"

"Like what? This is just a fishing boat, probably pulled out to sea by the storm. There's nothing here that I can't get from the water already."

"A body!"

"It dead?"

A poke in the side, the shoulder, the cheek. An arm is lifted up and dropped. Hands pull on shoulder and waist to rest the body on its side. Soft hairs tickle the bare chest.

"Hard to tell!"

"What do you mean hard to tell? Is it dead?"

"Fine, I'll find out. Where's the bucket?"

Footsteps leaving and coming back.

Water suddenly splashed the face, rushing down throat and nose, and is quickly rejected by the lungs.

"Yep, he's alive."

"Okay, I'll get the hands, you grab the feet."

"Why do I get the feet?"

"Fine. One, two, three- _not me!_ See? You get the feet."

"Che, whatever, but I get first pick at dinner."

...--... ...--... ...--... ...--... ...--... ...--... ...--...

A pile of groaning bodies.

"Okay, its official… turtle shell is the worst possible landing pad," Razor groaned.

"Getting landed on isn't so great either," Leo said, who was stuck on the bottom of the nine-body-pile-up.

"I'm 'onna… puke," Alex groaned in a moment of consciousness. At the statement the pile suddenly shifted and toppled as Mikey quickly moved out of the splash zone underneath Alex and Don.

Dev was the first to his feet, rolling his shoulder and flexing pulsing wings that Bomber hand landed on and crushed. He tried to look around but found them to be in darkness. "Well ain't this just great?"

"Now where are we?" Raph asked.

"Probably in deep shit," Razor said.

"What do we do now?" Gorf asked.

"First thing's first, we find a light," Leo said.

"I got one," Don said and dug out a glow stick from his bag. The small light was just enough to make them look green with dark shadows, but it didn't help with finding out where they were.

"Hey guys," Mikey said with an anxious voice. "This is like last time for me, back in the other Labs. Falling through a hole in the floor and landing in a dark room, and then…" his voice trailed off as he looked at the floor.

"That's a very good observation, Michelangelo," a voice said from the darkness. A voice the experiments could never forget. "But," a light obliterated the darkness around them, causing Razor to flinch and cover his eyes in pain. There wasn't enough light to show the entire room, though it did show a man standing beside a control panel, his hands on a switch that had triggered the lights. There, in the both hated and feared lab coat was Ambrose. "There won't be any mutations - at least not today, anyway."

At the sight of the man those that had the strength to jumped to their feet. The four ninja pulled their weapons and Dev snatched the gun from Gorf.

"Now, now, there's no need for violence," Ambrose said coolly and flipped a switch on the control panel. A large circle that surrounded the group of experiments and mutants on the ground started to glow blue. As the light got brighter a force started to pull on all metals. When the circle reached its brightest light the blades of Leo's swords and Raph's sias hit the magnetized ground, along with the chains of Mikey's nunchucks, Dev's gun, Don's bag of electronics, Alex's hands, and all those wearing jeans had to struggle to re-zip their pants.

"Back on topic," Ambrose continued. "I must say, it truly is a pity that there won't be any mutations. I was so close to moving on to the next step. But thanks to most of you my plans have been temporarily corrupted."

"Your mind's freak'n corrupted," Dev growled.

"Such anger towards the ones that gave you life, it seems to yet pass through those simple minds of yours that if it weren't for us you wouldn't exist."

"I'd rather… not exist," Alex forced out, noticeably fighting to hide any signs of discomfort in front of the scientist as she remained on the ground - not only because her legs didn't have the strength to hold her weight, but the metal bones that made up parts of her skeleton were stuck to the floor.

Ambrose shook his head. "Oh you say that now, and you always will to my face. That I'm not surprised about, but what does surprise me is that you haven't jumped up and tried to take my head off yet. Oh wait- that's right, the poison. I almost completely forgot," he said like he had only forgotten where he had left his shoes. "It's a shame, really, a creation as successful as you to be reduced to such a pathetic state. I've seen the camera feeds, you can barely talk let alone walk on your own."

"Then why'd you do it?" Razor asked. "To set an example? Punishment? The only thing she's ever done was show you that your security was never as tight as you thought. And she basically gave herself up this time. What're you trying to prove by using poison? What's the point? What's the point of any of this?"

Ambrose smiled. "Though that is a perfectly reasonable question, the answer is something your simple mind could not comprehend. And as for the point of the poison, I'll just say it's a test of wills." He reached a hand into his pocket and withdrew a vial of red liquid. "I have the antidote right here, and I'll give it to her if she asks for it and gets all of you to do what I say like good little soldiers. But if not… well… there's only so much time an organism can go with its digestive system refusing anything it touches. Eventually the body will shut down. I'm feeling generous today; I'll allow our little rebel something rare: the chance to make a decision of her own."

Eyes turned to Alex. A moment of silence passed that at first seemed she was thinking about it, but in truth she was gathering the energy to speak. "Go ta'… hell."

Ambrose sighed. "Pity. But maybe I could change your mind." He flipped a switch causing another light to turn on to the side. Under the light were two bodies; one was large and furry, the other small and pale, both were unmoving.

"Jack?" Razor muttered in surprise.

"Master Splinter!" the turtles (and Mikey) exclaimed.

"So you do know these two," Ambrose said. "I was merely guessing."

Raph clenched his fists and started forward. "You assho- argh!" He was stopped short as electrical charges raced up his legs thanks to Ambrose hitting a button. When the button was released the turtle collapsed.

"Raph!" Mikey exclaimed and dropped at his brother's side.

"So now then, _Alex_," Ambrose continued on. "What's your decision? Or shall I lave it up to your friends? Maybe they have a little more sense."

"I've… told you be…fore…" Alex forced her voice. "Leave them… outta… this."

"And you cease to understand that no matter what you say I'm going to do what at I want. But if you need more persuading, I have another little friend of yours down here. You've always turned to him like children to a father."

_Don't be fooled, he just likes others to think he's playing puppet master. He probably thinks I'm lying unconscious right now, when actually I'm right _behind him!

Suddenly one of Ambrose's legs collapsed with the help of a five-year-old body crashing into the back of his knee. The two landed on the floor but neither stayed down. Psych scrambled back up and reached for the antidote that had been dropped. Just as his fingers curled around the glass, larger fingers curled around his ankle.

"You have been an indirect pain in my side since I got my lab coat," Ambrose growled as he stood up, holding Psych upside down by the leg. "I was told to keep you alive, that those simpletons from two hundred years ago did something right. That they got a living thing with no mouth to last for over two centuries. And I was technically not allowed to tear your mind apart to figure out why you're telepathic."

Even though Psych's glare at the scientist remained solid, Gorf's reaction wasn't exactly discreet.

"How does he know about that?!"

"Oh I've known for a while," Ambrose said and dropped Psych. The boy was able to angle himself so he landed on his shoulder and not his head. As he lay there stunned for a second Ambrose kept him down by pressing a foot on his chest. "It wasn't that hard to figure out. Not only do all of you speak to him directly, and then give reactions as if he verbally responded, but the name 'Psych' is a given if I understand your pathetic naming system.

"But anyway, as we were saying, what's the answer? Follow me and do as I say with no resistance and Alex can have the antidote, or you can remain against me and we'll just see how long it takes until your friend will eventually shut down from lack of food - your choice."

"In translation:" Bomber said "sell our souls to the devil himself, or take our risks."

The group looked at each other. Cure Alex and pledge their allegiance to the one they hated most? Or fight to keep their freedom and leave Alex to die? It was a lose-lose situation.

Leo looked at his sensei, at his brothers and friends, at Alex. He shook his head, knowing the decision would change all of their lives.

The seconds ticked by and Dev made a definite decision that none would blame him for. Standing straight with fists at his sides, and fighting down a smirk, he said "Sir, go to hell, sir."

Ambrose's expression of control didn't change as his hand moved over the control panel. "Pity," he said simply and everything went black with the press of a button.

* * *

Oh would could possibly happen next?


	16. Plane Trouble

**Chapter Fifteen**

**Plane Trouble**

"_This is stupid. If we have wings why would we need to know how to fly a machine?"_

"_Because, you idiot, not everyone can see your actual wings."_

"_Oh what's it matter, we're never going to see the outside world. This stuff really is stupid."_

"_Get back to work."_

"_Make me- oh wait, no, I didn't mean-!"_

"Gah!" Dev gasped jerking awake with a pounding heart. Looking around he closed his eyes and sighed with relief, shaking his head against memories of chains and hammers. Then he stopped and actually looked at where he was.

He was strapped into a chair by a seatbelt pulled tight across his lap while his hands were tied behind his back with what felt like rope. There was another chair to his right and beyond that was a circular window. In front of him was another chair and to his left was an isle. Above the isle was a type of cabinet. Across the isle was another chair. Strapped into that chair was Gorf mumbling in his sleep.

"This is… unexpected. I'm on a plane," he said, but saying it didn't make it any more believable. He needed a second opinion. "Gorf."

Snoring.

"Gorf!"

Still nothing.

"_Bug breath_!"

"Maggot pizza!" Gorf exclaimed as he snapped awake and looked around. "Uh, wha? Wh-where am I?"

"You're dead."

"We're on a plane?"

"Looks like it."

"Who else is here?"

"For all I know, god forbid" he muttered to himself "you and me."

"Where we headed?"

"How the hell should I know?"

"Well I just woke up."

"Yeah, so did I." Dev looked around. He was on an unknown plane, going God knew where with little to no knowledge of how he got here. It was time to get up and look around. Looking at the seatbelt he saw that the buckle was in the middle. To open it one would simply have to push the square button on the front of the buckle. "Gorf, how long is your tongue?"

"Uh- stretched as tight as it can go… around five feet maybe?"

"How much control do you have of it?"

"What?"

"Can you hit a target that's not a straight forward shot?"

"I've never tried."

"Well try now."

"What?"

"I need you to undo my seatbelt because I can't use my hands."

Going cross eyed like he could look at his mouth, Gorf let his tongue out and tried to direct it towards Dev. But it couldn't stretch very well without the power of momentum. There was a reason that when he used his tongue over distances it shot out instead of slid out. He eventually gave it up and sucked the tongue back in. "I can't."

Dev scowled and looked around again and noticed the unused seatbelt in the empty seat next to him. Of course it was the same kind as his. He shook his head at not thinking of it before. "Gorf, undo your seatbelt and get over here to do mine."

"Oh yeah, that'll work," Gorf said and hung his head to aim. With a flash of his tongue the seatbelt was unbuckled and he stood up. His hands were tied behind his back also. He struggled to get up, almost fell over sideways at the uneasiness of being on a moving plane, stood on the seat in front of Dev, leaned over the headrest and started aiming.

"If you miss and get spit on me…" Dev said threateningly.

"I've been using this tongue all my life, I know how to aim," Gorf assured him and took the shot.

When he could Dev stood up and got into the isle. Standing up more questions came to him when he saw that him and Gorf weren't the only ones on the plane. Razor, Bomber, Leo, Raph, Don, Mikey, Alex… everybody tall enough to be seen from his spot was there scattered down the plane, even Splinter, and all of them were asleep.

_What are we doing here?_ he wondered. With a sigh he started down the isle towards Razor. "Oy," he said standing beside the sleeping shark. "Razor." Getting drool in response Dev kicked him in the leg.

"Ow! Hey!" Razor exclaimed sharply then noticed his surroundings. "Wha- where am I?"

"As far as we know," Gorf said from behind Dev "we're on a plane."

"A pla- what?"

"We'll let you know when we do," Dev said and turned his back on Razor. "Now cut my binds."

Razor shriveled his nose. "There's no force on Earth that could get me willingly that close to your butt."

"Then do it unwillingly," Dev said over his shoulder.

With a huff Razor tried to position himself so he could reach the rope binding Dev's hands but he couldn't twist far enough to bend over the armrest. "I can't."

"Here," Gorf said and repeated what he did for Dev with the seatbelt problem.

Now that he wasn't held down, Razor twisted sideways in his seat and reached to chew through the ropes with his teeth. Then he did the same for Gorf.

"Now what?" Gorf asked rubbing his wrists.

"You two wake everyone up and get them out of their seats while I go to the cockpit and figure what our situation is," Dev said.

"Yes sir," Gorf said with a playful solute.

"What about my hands?" Razor asked.

"You guys can figure that out while I'm gone and stay quiet; no point alerting our captain," Dev said and went to the front of the plane. Standing in front of the cockpit door he held his breath and opened it carefully and quietly. Poking his head in, he found an empty room. "No one's flying? No one's flying!" After slamming the door the rest of the way open he jumped inside and scanned the controls ready to grab the wheel.

Everything seemed to be normal for travel. Then he saw it, a switch at the top of the dash that was flipped towards a light labeled "AUTO-PILOT".

"Oh, that's good."

That's when he saw it: a note taped to the wheel. He picked it up. 'You figured out how to get out of your seat. Now how are you going to get out of the plane?'

With new questions rising Dev looked out the windshield in thought. _Ambrose straps us in expecting us to get out? What's he thinking?_

Scratching his head Dev turned around to go for the door when he noticed a map hanging on the wall. It was the map of the world with a red circle out in the Pacific; maybe a hundred miles off the coast of California.

Going to the map he stared at it. There was nothing but water in that spot. It couldn't really be the plane's destination… could it?

A landing in the ocean would kill them all. But that was a pretty elaborate way to kill them when Ambrose could have just had them shot or something instead of putting them in a plane bound for the middle of the ocean.

"What's the point?" he asked aloud and looked back down at the note. "How are you going to get out of the plane…? So I'm supposed to know about the ocean landing? Get out of the plane… All planes have emergency supplies. Or- they should."

After a second he was running to the back of the plane, passing everyone that had woken up and asking unanswerable questions. It turned out that Jack and Psych were on the plane also.

"Dev?" Gorf asked standing in the doorway that led to the back of the plane that acted as a storage area. The winged experiment was pulling the place apart. Ripping open a closet marked 'parachutes' he swore. Opening another cabinet he swore again. When he turned around he swore yet again and kicked the door that led outside - the welded shut door.

Gorf stepped to the side as Dev went back to the cockpit, dark feathers falling to the floor in his wake.

"Where's the fire?" Mikey asked.

Gorf shrugged and noticed a piece of paper taped to the door. Walking up to it he found it to read 'Quite the conundrum ain't it?'

"DAMN IT!!" The curse could be heard all the way from the front of the plane.

"I think Dev's frustrated," Razor said.

"Gee, what gave ya the first clue?" Raph said as Dev reappeared, now reaching up and yanking down the doors to all of the cabinets hanging over the isle.

"Looking for something?" Don asked.

"What's going on?" Leo asked.

_Dev, you're scaring Gorf._

"Nuh-uh!" Gorf exclaimed, though his expression betrayed him.

Jack started to shake in Razor's lap at the feeling of stress and growing panic that seemed to radiate off of the experiment, while Razor sat next to an Alex who seemed oblivious to what was happening from her poisoned drugged state.

Dev ignored them as he stood up on the armrests of seat to look in to the compartments but couldn't seem to find what he was looking for - whatever it was. Each time he found an empty compartment he would swear under his breath and move on to the next one.

When he opened one of the compartments a katana and a nunchuck fell out to hit him on the head. Taped to the inside of the compartment door was a note that read: 'I guess you disserve a little slack'. Ignoring the objects that were useless to him, Dev continued to search the compartments while Leo, Raph, Mikey, and Don grabbed their weapons.

"Tell us what is troubling you," Splinter said calmly though he could sense the cloud of ever growing tension surrounding Dev.

"Trouble? Heh, what trouble? What makes you think there's trouble?" Dev asked a crazed note in his voice.

"You're molting," Bomber said.

"And swearing - a lot," Mikey added.

"Oh there's no trouble," Dev said, talking with a voice that shook with a nervous laugh. "We're only in a plane headed for the middle of the ocean with no charted land to land on, and the controls are locked so I can't turn the plane around. The parachutes and emergency supplies are gone, and the only door out of here is welded shut. I'm losing too many feathers to properly fly if we ever do get out of here, and there's a bomb on the plane."

"What?!"

"See? No trouble. Now where is that stupid thing?" Dev muttered and swore yet again when he looked in the last compartment and still hadn't found the explosive.

_What tells you there's a bomb on the plan? _Psych asked, keeping his cool while tension spiked within each mind he knew. There were still two bodies that he could read yet, though. The redhead that was the same size as him who was starting to shake harder in fear as he sat in Razor's lap, and Master Splinter, who he knew only from the memories he picked up on when he first met the three turtles and Mikey.

"These damn things," Dev said, pulling the notes he had collected out of a pocket and scratched his head. "Where the hell could you put a bomb on a plane?"

"Anywhere, actually," Bomber said. "Depending on big it is of course."

"You're. Not. Helping," Dev said.

"What do we do?" Mikey asked.

"We sit down and wait to die," Raph said and whacked Mikey upside the head. "What do ya think we do?!"

"Boys," Splinter said sternly. "I do not think now is the best time for arguing."

_Agreed, _Psych said to those that could hear him. _Spread out and look for the bomb. It's not impossible to find. Ambrose wouldn't tell us about it if he didn't want us to find it._

The group spread out over the plane, seeming to look in every corner, in each crevice, under every chair… but the bomb was nowhere to be found.

"What if the bomb isn't real?" Leo finally suggested. "I mean, for all we know it could just be something to make us nervous and start to panic."

"I guess that would make sense," Don said.

"Yes, but for all we know also, it is real and could go off any minute," Razor said.

"I agree with Leo," Mikey said. "We've looked every- whoa," he became off balance when the plane started to shake from turbulence. The sudden motion knocked him backwards and he plopped down in one of the chairs, one leg dangling over the footrest. On contact with the seat there was a muffle _beep!_

"Tell me that wasn't what I think it was," Dev said, gripping the bridge of his nose when the plane steadied.

"Mikey…" Raph said.

"What?" Mikey asked innocently.

Bomber came forward and motioned with his hand. "Up."

It took a moment from his awkward position, but Mikey wrestled his way out of the chair and stood up. Bomber felt along the seat of the chair. He pressed down in the center. Though he couldn't feel anything he looked at Raph held his hand out for a sia. Refusing to give up his weapon, Raph came forward instead and ripped the cushion open himself.

Pulling the fabric and padding out of the cushion Raph found a metal box about an inch thick stuffed inside the chair. Pulling it out he found the box to have a timer on it set at fifteen seconds and still going down. "The old turtle luck working true to form…"

Bomber swiped both the bomb and a sia from Raph and dropped to the floor. Prying the box open with the sia a webbing of wires sprang out in a tangled mess. "Crap…" he muttered.

"What is it?" Don asked. Bombs weren't exactly his forte but he thought he could be of some help.

"You know how in movies the hero has to pick between the red and blue wire?" Bomber said.

"Yeah," Mikey said.

"These are _all red_!" Just like he said all the wires that were showing had been painted the same shade of red.

"That shouldn't be a problem," Razor said. "Shouldn't it?"

Bomber growled in frustration. "I don't have time to figure out the mechanics of this thing," he muttered more to himself than anyone.

There was a beep from the timer to announce that only ten seconds were left.

Everything seemed to grow quiet, the only sounds being Bomber frantically muttering to himself as he tried to figure out where the right wire would be located, and the humming of the plane engine.

There was a beep of only five seconds left.

"Bomber…" Gorf said nervously.

"_Shut up!_" Bomber hissed, eyes flicking from red wire to red wire as his fingers parted and tried to organize the knot in front of him.

3…

He had his options narrowed down to four wires.

2…

Only two wires; _which one?!_

1…

He picked one, squeezed his eyes shut and ripped it out.

There was a moment of silence then, nothing.

Bomber cracked an eye open and gave a sigh of relief, loosening his tense muscles.

Splinter sniffed the air. "What is that smell?"

"Jack!" Razor suddenly exclaimed, picking the boy off his lap.

"Sorry…" the boy mumbled feebly.

"Kid you're never sitting on my legs again!"

Jack shuffled into the aisle to find a new seat to sit in, his pants between his legs and on his rear was darkened with a certain smelly liquid.

"Ew…" Mikey said.

_BEEP!_

"Do I want to know what _that_ was?" Dev asked to the sudden sound.

Thinking he heard it coming from in front of him, Bomber looked down. Red glowing letters were moving across the screen where the timer for the bomb had been. They read:

NICE JOB FINDING THIS, BUT IT'S NOT THE BOMB. HAVE YOU CHECKED THE WINGS LATELY?

"Um… guys?" Jack's small voice said as he stared out one of the windows. "I think I found the bomb."

Those that got to the windows first looked out. Outside, strapped to the wing of the plane, was a box. On that box was another timer that was facing the plane's passengers.

"So, he was just screwing with us," Raph said. "Telling us about the damned thing even though we can't do a damned thing about it."

_Looks like it_, Psych agreed.

"How much time do we have?" Razor asked, still sitting beside Alex, figuring he couldn't do anything about his peed on pants.

"It looks like…" Don squinted to correctly read the numbers on the timer. "Thirteen minutes."

Dev backed away from the window as the news sank in. The bomb was going to go off, destroy the wing, and cause the plane to go down. The best case scenario would be for them to somewhat land on the water and the plane sink down into the ocean, allowing them to either drown or suffocate. With crossed arms the experiment kicked one of the chairs and went to the front of the plane.

In the cockpit he sank down in the pilot's chair, his mind sinking into a state of numb depression. The minutes ticked by and there was nothing they could do to stop the bomb or even turn the plane around and head back for America. Outside there was no land in sight. There was truly no way to tell how long the plane had been in flight before he woke up, then there was the time spent with them looking for the bomb, even if they could turn around they wouldn't make it to shore in time. They were going to die; it was as simple as that. Who knew why Ambrose had gone so far as to stick them all on to a plane to kill them off? Maybe he just didn't want to mess with the bodies that would be left over after they died.

With a sigh he stared through the windshield. There really wasn't much to see, just red, white, and blue - a lot of blue.

_Hey, wait a minute!_ Dev stood up and leaned over the control panel. He hadn't imagined it; there was a red blotch out in the middle of the ocean. He couldn't see what it was, but it was as big as a good sized island and tall enough to cover a medium sized mountain.

"What… the… hell?"

The plane was headed right for the thing.

As he stared at the redness, trying to figure out what it was an explosion shook the plane. The vibration knocked Dev off his feet. There were exclamations from out in the passenger area. The bomb must have gone off.

Bright red warning lights started to flash on the control panel to warn the pilot that something was wrong with wings.

Almost immediately the nose of the plane started to dip down towards Earth. Out of reflex Dev grabbed the wheel and found that he was allowed to pull up but he couldn't turn. Though he had no idea what it was, he aimed for the red thing, figuring it was better than going head-to-head with the ocean. That was one thing you just don't play Chicken with.

As he quickly neared the red he began to be able to see through it. Squinting at first, his eyes widened at what it was: an island! Then he noticed that the closer he got to the island the instruments on the control panel started to go haywire until the engine just gave out completely.

_Not good…_

He jumped into the pilot's seat, pulled the seatbelt over him and turned on the intercom. "Gentlemen and… Alex, this is your captain. It is well recommended you take a seat and buckle up, we're crash landing this birdie, and it won't be pretty."

* * *

Hi peoples! Sorry it took me so long to update I've been working on another story, and I wasn't really sure how to write this chapter. Anyway, here yeah go. Can't really say much about this chapter, its not very long, but its not exactly my shortest either. I can say, however, that the next chapte will be interesting... but I won't go into detail, where would the fun in that be?

Anyway...

REVIEW! pwease??


	17. Fun with Snakes

**Chapter Sixteen**

**Fun with Snakes**

The last thing that anyone sitting in the back of the plane could remember was Dev announcing a crash landing and everyone strapping down. After that… it was too fast, too confusing to explain. It was an experience that couldn't be told in words, and impossible to understand unless a person had already lived through it.

Unable to put such an event into words, this story will have to turn the reader's attention to the broken, mangled branches of what used to be a tall tree. Entangled in, and fighting with, these branches was a green body that was having trouble freeing himself.

Wrenching, kicking, pushing, and grunting the turtle managed to undo the majority of the bark covered knot he was stuck in. Ignoring a bleeding gash in his forearm, and swearing at the sharp sticks that kept stabbing him, he heard a sudden _CRACK!_

Holding still he looked around. There was more cracking and the branches that were holding him up started to tilt.

"Aw shell…"

With a final _crack_ the branch snapped and he was falling - again. He rolled and twisted as he hit branches on the way down covering his head with his arms so he didn't crack his skull.

Then, just as sudden as the fall, he stopped by landing in a most uncomfortable bush.

"Stupid turtle luck," he groaned as he managed to roll out of the bush and fixed his red mask. Stumbling to his feet Raph took himself in. Besides the bleeding cut on his arm that didn't look too serious, he was mostly just bruised from the fall, though his ankle did throb it didn't feel like something to worry about.

Looking around he found a sia hanging from a tree branch overhead. Somewhat limping to the trunk of the sia-stealing tree he climbed up to retrieve it.

From the branch he looked around again. "Damn…" Twisted, broken metal was scattered across the ground. But that was just the little stuff.

Sitting in the middle of an unnatural clearing, the reason behind trees missing their highest branches was the plane. Or what was left of it anyway. Only half of the left wing remained while the right wing was completely gone, and so was the nose of the plane. The tail had broken off and was laying off to the side some ways away. The middle of the plane was dented and scratched with holes in it, and some of the windows were busted.

Though he doubted it, Raph climbed out of the tree and went to the destroyed metallic tube in search of life. Standing in front of the wreckage looking in he found wires hanging from the ceiling, chairs were missing from the rows, and a few of the compartments had fallen to the floor. The turtle carefully stepped into the ruined plane and walked down the isle.

Like he thought, everyone had been thrown from the plane when it crashed.

"Uuuuhhnnn…"

_Maybe not everyone, _Raph thought and looked through the seats.

"Uuuuhhnnn…"

"Where are you?" he said.

Coughing came in response, followed by more groaning.

Raph was near the last few rows and found the body. It was Alex, tossed on the floor between seats, curled up clutching her stomach. One of the compartments from the ceiling had fallen down to pin her leg beneath it.

He grabbed the compartment and tossed it to the side. "Come on," he said, picking her up. "Maybe we can find someone else and figure out where the hell we are."

"You're… arm…" Alex rasped, barely seeing the blood through dazed eyes.

"Peh, its nothin'," Raph said as he headed for what used to be the front of the plane. He was about to step down onto the grass when he heard a voice and quickly jumped back, not knowing what to expect.

"Hello! Anybody out there? Sensei? Leo? Mikey?"

"Donnie?" Raph called and stepped out into the open.

"Raph!" Don exclaimed happily and ran forward out of the bushes. He had minor scratches going down his arms and a large bruise had started to form on the side of his head, but other than that he looked okay. "Are you okay? Where is everybody? Is Alex okay?"

"Hey, one question at a time bro," Raph said. "I'm fine, I don't know where anybody is I just got out of a stupid tree and found Alex a few seconds ago. All I can say is she doesn't look any better than before the crash, and neither do you."

"You don't look so great either," Don said. "But we could be worse. Thankfully the only broken thing we have is my Bo staff," he held out two long sticks, each splintered on one end.

"That sucks."

"Its replaceable," Don shrugged, though he looked solemn about it. He quickly changed the subject "I hope everybody else is okay."

"Well there's only one way to find out," Raph said and started for the trees. Don followed. "Hey, have you seen my other sia?"

Don shook his head. "No."

"Damn it." Though it wasn't the first time he's lost his weapons it seemed he always lost them right when he couldn't get replacements. At least he had one.

They walked a few feet from the wreckage when he looked around. It seemed they were in some kind of jungle. Birds could be heard in the distance, along with the buzz of bugs. Dark trees grew together as they reached for the sky and competed with each other for the right to the sun, completely blocking the sky from the ground.

"I'm gonna get a bird's eye view of the place. Find out where we are," Don said.

Raph nodded and set Alex down for a moment.

Climbing up a tree that wasn't destroyed from the plane scrapping against it in the crash, Don hurried to the highest branch that could hold his weight. After a moment of silent disbelieving awe, he called down "Raph, y-you might want to see this!"

With a huff the turtle started up the tree, leaving Alex to weakly lean against the rough trunk.

"What?" he asked, coming up near his brother.

"Look for yourself," Don said and gestured over the treetops. A crimson sky stretched over a sea of leaves, reaching until it fell behind a small, single mountain. Behind them the salty ocean washed against the shore underneath the red sky. All of it rolled into one look was a sight to see, and equally unbelievable. It looked like the scene from some dream, but the two brothers were very much awake.

The more they looked around the more they wondered just where the shell they were. Had they somehow left the planet?

_That can't be it, _Don thought. _The plane was going down, and I'm sure we would have known if we were no longer on the planet when he woke up in the air._

"Ugh," Raph groaned in exasperation as he gazed over the rooftops.

"What is it?"

"We're in a jungle; jungles mean bugs, and I _hate_ bugs."

"No, it's not a jungle, it isn't humid enough this is more of a… forest."

"Jungle, forest - same thing! They both are infested with disgusting, annoying bugs that continuously think I'm some freak'n buffet."

...--... ...--... ...--... ...--... ...--... ...--... ...--...

"Nnnn… duuude…" the teen groaned slowly putting a hand to his head. He flinched upon touching a gash beside his temple. "Ow… Ah… what happened?"

Opening his eyes Michelangelo vaguely looked around and found green - lots and lots of green.

"Ugh… where am I?"

Trying to get to his hands and knees his back was met with hundreds of sharp points. Dropping tiredly back down with a grunt he reached a hand out. Finding the green to be some sort of solid, he grabbed it: a leaf. His other hand explored what he was laying face down on. It was rough and grainy: dirt.

_Great, I'm stuck under a bush…_

With much wincing at the feel of sharp sticks and twigs scrapping across his skin and his chest being dragged against pointy rocks, Mikey managed to backwards army crawl out from under the plant.

When he could he sat up and looked around. He was surrounded by trees. Directly behind him was the disembodied tail of the plane. If it had landed any closer he would have been crushed underneath it. Farther away was the body of the plane with the nose missing.

He tried to recall what happened, but most of it was a blur. He remembered Dev's announcement as the plane started to tip downwards… then everything started to shake like an earthquake… he remembered the sound of screeching metal, and the plane must have flipped at some point because he remembered feeling like he was upside down with his seatbelt cutting into his legs. Then the seatbelt was suddenly gone and he was holding himself down merely by gripping the armrests… Somewhere among that he recalled feeling something yank at him and then he was suddenly tumbling through a mess of green and brown. After that there was mostly a blank until he had just woken up.

Looking down at himself he found his left shirt sleeve to be hanging by a couple threads, his pant legs were torn, his clothes in general were dirty, but he didn't seem to have many cuts, mostly bruises atop the bruises that were still healing. Lifting his shirt up he found both nunchucks to be at his sides after putting them there when he found them on the plane. It looked like his biggest problem at the moment was how sore he was going to be in the morning.

After sitting there a moment, leaning against the broken plane tail, slowly getting his mind to wrap around the fact that he was still alive, not horribly injured, and had no idea where the shell he was, he unsteadily got to his feet.

Wondering if anyone else had landed close to, or stayed inside the plane he searched the general area, but couldn't find anyone.

A lead block started to form in the pit of his stomach at the idea that he was the soul survivor of the crash.

He spent the next couple minutes sitting in one of the remaining seats of the plane, the comparison of being surrounded by everyone one moment and the next being suddenly alone reeling through his mind.

As he sat there his stomach started to complain. It wasn't exactly the ideal moment to be thinking about food but he couldn't help it, his stomach never just wanted food, it _demanded _it, and you just couldn't say no to something with that much power. So, he got up and decided to leave the site of the crash in search of food. What was left of the large machine could be a good enough shelter come nightfall, so he planned on returning. With that thought in mind, he made sure to keep the remains of the plane directly behind him.

Fifteen minutes pass of him looking for anything edible. Another ten minutes found him sitting against a tree holding his growling stomach.

"Man… what I wouldn't do for a burger…"

Letting his head lean back into the tree, Mikey closed his eyes in hunger, a lazy groan coming from his throat.

Though he wished it wouldn't, time continued on second by second, too impatient to wait for him.

As he sat there he started to feel something brush against his leg. At first he didn't think much of it he was too preoccupied with trying to turn an imaginary burger into real matter for him to eat. He finally opened his eyes at the sound of hissing. His eyes almost popped out of his head at the sight of a large black snake curling itself around his leg. If he had gotten to his feet any faster one could think his butt was on fire while he hopped up and down shaking and kicking his leg to get the serpent off.

Thankfully the snake finally fell off without biting him. It irritably hissed at him and slithered away.

With heavy breathing from the sudden shock, the teenager looked around. What else was in this place with him?

As he tried to look through the bushes and tree trunks around him with a racing heart he started to hear a soft hissing coming from right behind him. Slowly, with widening eyes, he turned around and froze without so much as a squeak, though one eye did start to twitch a little.

Lowering down from an overhead tree branch was a great, black snake that was big enough to eat an elephant for an afternoon snack. Its body was as thick as a good sized tree. It was amazing the tree it had itself draped in wasn't sagging with the effort to hold the huge serpent up. And Mikey was just sitting underneath this thing?!

The little teen stood there in terrified shock at the beast as the boulder sized head slowly came towards him, forked tongue flickering in and out of its mouth. After a moment it raised up like it was about to strike and opened its wide mouth to show off five foot long fangs.

At the sight Michelangelo - ninja or not - did what any sane person would do in a situation like this: scream and run.

...--... ...--... ...--... ...--... ...--... ...--... ...--...

Donatello stopped. "Did you hear that?"

"I'd know that voice anywhere," Raph said looking around. Not only had the sudden voice upset a number of birds that were perched in the trees, but it was still echoing through the sky. "Which way do you think it came from?"

"Um…" Don looked around uncertainly. The echoes were making it hard to choose a direction, but he had to; he couldn't remember ever hearing Mikey scream that loud before, whatever the reason was it had to be bad.

Before the two could figure a way to go to look for their brother, their brother found them. At first there was nothing but the sound of snapping twigs and fiercely rustling bushes, and then suddenly Mikey appeared in a flash of movement, ran into Don and sent both of them to the ground.

Mikey didn't stay down long, though. He scrambled to his feet and looked ready to run off.

"Mike, what's goin' on?" Raph asked.

"S… s… sn…" the human-turned-mutant was breathing to hard to say anything as he pointed off into the direction he had come.

"Spit it out," Raph commanded.

"_SNAKE!_" Just as Mikey yelled the word the giant serpent suddenly appeared. Don barely had time to roll out of the thing's path.

Unable to stop the snake continued on and turned around a tree to face its four course dinner.

"Mike, what the hell did you do?!" Raph yelled.

"I didn't do anything! It just appeared!" Mikey cried in panic.

"It must be at least thirty feet long!" Don exclaimed. "What do we do?"

"What do ya think brainiac?" Raph asked sarcastically, shifting Alex so she lay over his shoulder. Though in the term 'fight or flight' he usually chose the former, there was just no way they could fend off a forty-some foot snake with fangs that were as long as they were tall with only one sia, a broken Bo staff, and a pair of nunchucks. "Run!"

Just as the snake tried to strike and trap one of the creatures before it in its mouth the three bodies that could dashed into the trees. With a hiss of irritation the snake bound after them, its massive form easily pushing trees out of the way as it shoved its way through and crushed bushes underneath its great girth.

"It's gaining!" Mikey yelled after stealing a glance over his shoulder.

"How do we lose this thing?!" Raph exclaimed.

"By going somewhere it can't," Don reasoned.

"And that would _where_ exactly?!"

"I'll tell you when I find a place!"

"It's gonna catch us!" Mikey felt compelled to tell his brothers as they sped through the trees. Then suddenly there were no trees and the ground disappeared.

"Mikey!" Raph yelled and grabbed his oblivious brother by the back of the shirt before he ran right over a cliff with raging rapids for a landing. On the other side of the fifty-foot wide rapids was the rest of the island. Don grabbed Raph's shoulders before momentum pulled both of them over the edge and threw his weight backwards causing them to land in a pile among the underbrush.

There wasn't enough time to recover from almost falling off a cliff as they scrambled back to their feet and ran along the cliff. The snake was right behind them and was somehow able to turn fast enough that it remained on solid land.

No trees grew directly beside the cliff, creating a narrow path. With no trunks to swerve around, the snake was gaining even faster. There was no way the three brothers could outrun the thing, it would be on them in seconds. Don knew this, Raph was figuring it out, and Mikey couldn't believe his purpose in life was to be snake food.

"There!" Don suddenly yelled pointing ahead. About a hundred feet ahead of them was a bridge that led to the other side of the fast moving river. "Cross the river on the bridge…" he huffed, starting to get out of breath from all the running. "There's no way… it can follow us from there. And even… if it does… it'll fall in."

"Works fer me," Raph said and tried to speed up.

Either the snake knew what they were planning, or it was just hungry, because it seemed to be getting closer and was now snapping at them, missing by only a few feet. Each time the miss was a smaller and smaller amount until Mikey could practically feel it almost snagging his shirt.

Mike was the first one to the bridge. He tried to turn so sharply his sneakers slid on the dirt and he missed, having to scramble back and shoot across the rickety planks. Don had better timing so his turn wasn't so bad. Raph simply stuck his free hand out, grabbed the small log that was holding this side of the bridge down and basically swung himself onto the structure with the useful power of momentum.

Now that all three of them were hurrying across the bridge at the same time it had started to sway and shake, pushing all three off balance to the point that if there wasn't two lengths of rope acting as railings they would have surly fallen off.

When they were halfway across the snake made it to the beginning of the bridge, it wouldn't accept defeat so easily and didn't get the concept that it was too big for the narrow path over the river and tried to use it. By simply trying to go on the bridge its wide body pushed the logs holding the bridge down out of the ground, causing the bridge to fall. The snake tumbled into the rapids and was gone in a flash while the three ninjas managed to grab onto the planks of the bridge as it fell.

The fall was short, the cliff not very tall, and the end of the bridge trailed into the river. Mikey was already near the end and simply had to climb up. Don was right behind him, though he looked back knowing his other brother was behind him and found Raph with his legs in the river, holding onto the bridge with one hand and barely gripping the back of Alex's shirt with the other, the girl's weak body about to be swept away by the current.

"Raph!"

"Go!" Raph called to him. "I got it!"

_Of course you do,_ Don thought sarcastically in his head and climbed down the bridge.

"I said go, I got it," Raph said but Don wasn't risking this. Gripping the bridge with one hand he reached the other out. Raph pulled against the current to the point Don could get a grip on Alex and the two pulled her out of the river. Don put the body over his shoulder and started up the bridge like a ladder with Raph not far behind.

When they got to dry, solid land Don was halfway to standing when he froze.

"Hey, the view ain't very pretty from down here," Raph said. "Move."

"W-we come in peace," Mikey was saying.

"Get up," an unfamiliar voice growled.

Don stood up and stepped to the side so Raph could come up too. The sight wasn't exactly something expected, but in truth it wasn't that surprising either. Mikey had his hands up, as did Don like someone had a gun trained on them. It wasn't a gun though, but a crossbow.

* * *

Dun, dun, dunnnn... Sorry, I couldn't help it.

Yay! The story's getting somewhere! 'claps'  
I don't really know what to say right now, so I'll just say the same thing as always:

REVIEW!!


	18. Piranhas and Panthers

**Chapter Seventeen**

**Piranhas and Panthers**

_This just ain't our day…_ Raph thought as he clenched his fists. _First a plane crash, then a freak'n forty food snake, we almost fall into some rapids, and now this guy? God gotta be try'n ta say somethin' ta us…_

Standing in front of the small group was a teenager who seemed to be about fifteen and didn't look happy. Black, dripping wet hair was plastered onto a dark green forehead. Dark, angry eyes glared at them in hate. What looked to be a custom made crossbow was loaded and ready to shoot with the kid's webbed finger all set to pull the trigger. The strap to a quiver of extra arrows crossed the bare chest, while green and black cameo pants hung soaked around his legs. To boost the look of a fighter; the skin around the guy's left eye was a dark purple.

Getting past the look of this teen wanting to shoot them, Don realized that the kid wasn't human. How could he be with most of his skin being a dark green and his stomach a red-orange, and his fingers and toes having webbing? _Is it possible that this is another escaped experiment? __But… _he thought, _I don't remember seeing him in the old Labs…_

"Please," Don tried to say. "We're not a threat."

If the kid scowled any harder there was a chance of his mouth freezing in that position. "I'm supposed to believe that?" he hissed.

"Yes," Mikey nodded.

"And if I don't?"

"Then…" Mikey started. "Wouldn't you have shot us already?"

"Mikey stop talking," Raph said.

"No," the kid said lowly. Miraculously his scowl curled up and split open in an evil smirk, showing off two rows of knife-like teeth. "Good point," he said and pulled the trigger. The arrow was let loose and shot straight over Mikey's shoulder, centimeters from his neck, and across the river, becoming stuck in one of the tree trunks with a dull _thunk_.

While Mikey stood frozen in shock Raph pulled out his one sia and made to jump forward. Before he could though, the kid grabbed a lever on his crossbow, twisted it down and yanked back. In doing this a second arrow was dropped down from a row that curved down underneath the weapon, by yanking the lever back the bowstring was pulled taught. When let go, the lever sprang back into the starting position and the teen swung the already reloaded weapon to point at the turtle. "I rarely miss twice," he growled warningly.

"Look we're not your enemy," Don said, trying to keep peace. "We were on a plane and it crashed here, we're simply looking for the other passengers - our friends and family - we have no reason to attack you."

"Oh but I do you."

"How do you come to that conclusion?" Don asked.

The smirk was pulled back down into a scowl. "You broke my bridge."

Mikey glanced over his shoulder at the remains of the bridge that danced limply in the current. "Oops."

"We didn't take the stupid thing out," Raph said defensively. "That freak'n snake that tried to eat us did!"

"So? You led the snake to my bridge, and it's broken now. Do you know how hard it was to get it across the river? Those rapids never calm down, and they encircle the entire inner part of the island. Now I have to fix it because of you four."

"We… could help you with that," Don offered. "It can't be that hard with all of us."

The kid opened his mouth but was cut off by another voice.

"Tyler! Tyler, where are you?" By the sound of it the voice belonged to a female. "Come on, I agree to this because Nick's gone and you just leave me?" There was rustling from the bushes behind the crossbow holder and a child appeared. She couldn't have been much older than ten with dark brown hair pulled back into two braids, and a pair of goggles resting on her forehead. She looked to have something of a Hispanic background, though she didn't have much of an accent. "Tyler!" she managed to gasp and exclaim at the same time.

"Stay back _Skyler_," the teen - Tyler - said over his shoulder.

"What are you doing?" Skyler demanded. "You know the rules."

"They're not rules, they're guidelines."

"Still!" Skyler said small fists on hips as she came forward.

"I said stay back," Tyler growled.

"Don't take that tone with me," Skyler said and turned to the group by the river. "Hi, I'm Skyler, do you have names?"

"Um, I'm Donatello and these are my brothers Michelangelo and Raphael, and this is Alex. Excuse her; she hasn't been… well lately."

Skyler turned to Tyler. "They can speak, have names, and apparently are related somehow," she counted off her fingers pointedly. "Are smart enough to wield weapons," she gestured to Raph's sia "and haven't tried to take your head off yet, what do these pieces of information tell you?"

"Nothing," Tyler said with the sarcasm of a person that's stubbornly losing in an argument.

Skyler looked up at him in annoyance but didn't say anything. Instead she turned to the group. "Please excuse Tyler's uncalled for behavior, if we meet a being capable of rational thought we're _supposed_ to try and make friends, not _kill them_," she stressed the last two words looking at Tyler.

"They broke my bridge and Nick's over there," Tyler said with something close to a pout.

"There are two more bridges on the island, and you'll build another one. This isn't the first time something knocked the bridge down," Skyler said.

Tyler lowered the crossbow and turned towards the trees. "Whatever," he said over his shoulder as he walked away. "If you get stabbed in the back don't expect me to cry over your body."

Skyler shook her head as the teen disappeared. With a roll of the eyes and a sigh she said "I'm sorry, but what can you do about a piranha?"

"Piranha?"

"Yes, he's half piranha, like I said, I'm sorry; he's just being who he is. And you woulnd't believe it but he gets attached to his bridges. But anyway, it seems no one was hurt, though I can't help but wonder about your friend there… Alex, right?" she asked, coming forward. "May I see?"

Don lowered Alex into his arms and knelt down for Skyler to see.

Touching a knuckle to her mouth, Skyler looked over the sick body in thought. "What's the cause?"

"Poison," Don answered.

"Ah, man-made no doubt. Follow me; I can take you guys to our home. We don't have any of the proper medicines to cure poison anywhere passed snake venom but we do have beds, food, and drinking water."

"Food?" Mikey said hopefully.

"That means yes," Raph translated.

Skyler smiled and went into the trees, the guys followed. "I must admit," she said after a short while. "I never thought I'd see creatures like you two with a good IQ."

"And that's supposed to mean…?" Raph said roughly.

"Nothing offensive, I hope," Skyler assured him. "I'm just saying that most of the humanoids look more human that their other species, everything else… well… let's just say we don't have very many friends on the island, though it wouldn't surprise me if the scientists tried something new."

The three brothers looked at each other.

Mikey shrugged.

"We ain't science experiments," Raph said.

Sklyer stopped and turned to look at them. "Really," she stated.

"We're not from around here," Don said. "My brothers and I were just simple turtles that got hit by spilled toxic waste after hatching."

Skyler pointed at Mikey in question.

"He was an accident," Raph said.

"_He _was like us," Don corrected sharply. "It's a long story."

Looking mildly interested, Skyler turned back around to continue the lead. "So, where are you guys from then?"

"New York City," Raph said.

"Oh, city-boys, huh?" Skyler said and then faltered with a gasp. "You were on the plane, weren't you? The one that crashed!"

"Yep, that was us," Mikey said, putting his hands in his pockets as he stepped over a fallen log. "It was kind of cool until the whole crashing-thing."

"I saw it, as it came down. I didn't think anyone would have survived that. The plane did a front flip when it first hit the trees!"

"After everything we've lived through, a simple plane crash ain't gonna put us under," Raph stated almost proudly.

"I'd guess not," Skyler said.

"You haven't seen anyone else, you know, not from around here, have you?" Mikey asked.

"Well there is that one boy," Skyler said, looking up at the leaves overhead in thought. "Said he was part shark - but I'm not sure you know him, he appeared the other day, after a storm. Uh… Stripes, I think his name was."

"No, we don' know 'im," Raph said.

"Well actually," Don said. "I think I remember a Stripes from New York. I didn't see much of him, but I think he was part tiger shark, right?"

Skyler nodded. "And like tiger sharks he'll eat anything. Caught him chew on tree bark last night."

Mikey stuck his tongue out in disgust.

It took almost twenty minutes of walking through the forest and over little streams before they came to a tall wall created from chopped down tree trunks with the branches sawed off. Skyler walked down the wall and stopped a seemingly random spot. She knocked on one of the logs calling out "Jeff! Jeff we need in!"

There was a moment of silence, then seven of the logs moved to the side as one allowing them passage. Skyler led the way in as the logs slid back into place behind them. Don looked back in curiosity and found a complicated pulley system created of wooden wheels and rope controlling the doors. One rope moved off along the wall and disappeared behind a tree.

"Cool…" Mikey said as they saw where they were. Before them was a whole community of tree houses; buildings worked into the branches and circling around thick trunks, reaching higher and higher to the tops of the trees. High up bridges connected the structures that were across from each other while lifts reached up to higher level. Down below a great river weaved between the trees and went into a lake behind the tree house community. The tall logs they had just passed acted like a great fence that completely encircled the sliver of civilization.

"Welcome," Skyler said leading the way to a lift at the base of a tree. When they were all standing on it the girl pulled a lever and the lift started up towards the branches.

"Who… built all this?" Don asked looking around as they started to get a better view of everything.

"Jeff built the original tree house. Then Marker came along and helped out. They found the others and the place steadily grew from there."

When the lift reached the top Skyler led the way out through a hallway and into a large room that completely circled around a thick tree trunk. It looked to be a type of living room with shelves scattered on the one curving wall, each shelf housing anything from small trinkets to tools and weapons to simple toys. A large shelf that wrapped around the trunk of the tree acted as a counter with wooden stools scattered underneath it. Leaf filled sacks were thrown throughout the room in replace of actual couches and chairs. Fur rugs took up the greater portion of the wooden floor.

On the far side of the room was the only trace of technology: a computer. Or what could be called a computer. It was set up on a wooden desk; three different keyboards were spread out on the surface. Numerous different mix-matched monitors were sitting on shelves that extended up from the desk. Wires strung down from behind it like a tangle of vines and disappeared into the floor. Sitting in front of the desk was a narrow wheelchair.

Squares and rectangles were cut into the walls to create windows and doorways. Fur pelts hung over these holes to replace glass for the windows and doors for the doorways.

Beside one of the windows were two whiteboards nailed to the wall. One was a small board with the number 164 written on it, the other, bigger board had a mess of writing lined off into sections. One was labeled 'Chores' another 'Needs List' one was oddly labeled 'Bad Foods'. In the middle of the board in big, bold, block letters were the words:

**SKYLER'S**

**IN**

**CHARGE**

Outside, a deck extended from the walls with railings to ensure safety. Inside the tree's branches acted as a green, leafy ceiling, and from those branches, oddly enough grew strange fruit the color of a dark bruise with the shape of three vertically stacked apples.

"There isn't much," Skyler commented. "But feel free to make yourselves at home. Donatello, if you would, follow me to the infirmary, along with you Raphael if you want that arm bandaged."

The two followed her outside onto the deck and across a bridge to a medium sized building. It was a simple circular room with cots spread out along the walls. Each cot had a series of fur blankets. Shelves held numerous tin boxes with the words 'FIRST AID' on the fronts starting to fade with age. A bucket lay by each cot for various reasons. A window was off to the side with another bucket hanging by a rope, ready to be lowered into the river down below for water.

Following instruction, Don laid Alex down on one of the cots while Skyler lowered the bucket outside the window. After pulling it back up she lifted the bucket off its hook and splashed water as she carried it over. Setting it down she dumped a rag from one of the shelves in and wrung it out to lie across the girl's burning forehead. Next she cracked open one of the first aid kits and tended to Raph's cut arm.

"You seem used to playing doctor," Don observed.

"Being the only girl here, I kind of got stuck with the job," Skyler said.

"You didn't get stuck with it, you chose it," a voice said. Raph, Don and Skyler turned to see Tyler standing in the doorway, his cross bow hanging heavily by a loop on his pants, arms folded across his chest. "Oh, and your brother's a monkey."

"Tyler, be nice!" Skyler exclaimed when suddenly a voice yelled out "_I'm king of the jungle_!" followed quickly by a _thud_ that shook the walls.

Mikey stumbled into view outside the doorway cross-eyed, holding a slowly bleeding nose with leaves and twigs tangled in his hair. "Duuuuude…" he drew out dazedly and collapsed on the deck.

Don shook his head and Raph couldn't even begin to think of a way to express how big of an idiot his youngest sibling was.

Tyler rolled his eyes and just walked away.

...--... ...--... ...--... ...--... ...--... ...--... ...--...

The boy sleepily swatted at whatever was shaking his shoulder. "Goway…" he mumbled, but even with his irritation whatever was touching him continued to shake his shoulder.

"Wakey, wakey…" a voice he'd rather not hear in the morning sang. Now something was prodding him in the temple.

"Leave," he growled sleepily.

There was a soft snicker and something started to go up his nostril. Bomber lashed out a fist and snapped the stick that was almost in his nose. Jumping to his feet he lunged at the annoying asshole. "_Frog!_"

"Ah!" Gorf exclaimed and jumped out of reach, running for a green body helping an old rat up from the dirt. "Leo!" he cried for protection.

"Frog I'm gonna kill you!" Bomber yelled, chasing Gorf around and around tree trunks in never ending circles.

"Bomber," Leo said. "Bomber! Leave him alone."

"Yeah, listen to the commander," Gorf said as he hid behind a tree.

"Since when have we listened to authority?" Bomber asked.

"Hm, good point."

"Is everyone alright?" Leo asked.

"If those two move like that it appears so," Splinter said.

Bomber looked around at their surroundings of trees. His neck hurt some, he could taste blood in his mouth, and his body as a whole ached, but it was nothing to complain over. "Those seatbelts were crap, we must have gotten thrown at least twenty feet; I can't see even a hint of the plane."

"Hey, you guys gotta see this!" Gorf suddenly called down from the top of one of the trees. "I don't think we're in New York anymore or on Earth for that matter."

...--... ...--... ...--... ...--... ...--... ...--... ...--...

"Okay… not exactly… one of my best… landings…" Dev groaned. In front of him was a full view of the tree the nose of the plane had crashed into. Part of the windshield was busted, the ceiling was on the verge of collapsing, and the pilot seatbelt was jammed; locking the experiment in the seat.

Dev spent five whole minutes yanking on the belt that was serving its purpose a little too well. In frustration he kicked the control panel in front of him.

"Where's a sword-wielding turtle when you need one?" he muttered and looked around him for something that could be helpful in getting him out of the seat. There was noting within reach. _There has to be a way out of this stupid thing…_

Ten minutes found him groaning like a dying animal in a mix of frustration and boredom. Another five minutes and he was damning everything in life and life itself. Fifteen minutes and he was starting to dose off when he heard a voice.

"Hello! Anyone out there? Hello!" It wasn't exactly his favorite voice in the world, but it was a voice nonetheless.

"Gorf! Over here!" he yelled.

"Dev?" The sound of rustling announced someone approaching outside of the plane-less cockpit.

"Bird brain, you have got to work on your landings."

"Good to see you're okay too, _Bomber_," Dev said sarcastically. "Now help me out of this damn seat."

"Can't you undo a simple buckle?" Bomber asked, coming up to lean on the back of the pilot's chair.

"It's jammed. You got anything sharp with ya?"

"Just two katanas."

Dev tried to look behind his chair but was having trouble. "Who else is there?"

"Leo and Splinter."

As the experiments talked Leo came forward and cut through the seatbelt.

"Dev, you gotta see where we are," Gorf said, standing just outside the wreckage. "You wouldn't believe how lucky you were that you ran into that tree."

"What do you mean?" Dev asked and walked out into the sunlight. After rubbing his eyes and double checking the fact that the sky was red, he noticed what Gorf had meant about the tree. If the strong plant hadn't been there the nose of the plane would have gone over a cliff with raging rapids at the bottom of a thirty foot drop. Now that wouldn't have been a very happy ending. "Damn…" was all he could say at how he had unknowingly escaped a watery grave.

While the experiment took in where he was a scream cut through the air.

"What was that?" Bomber asked.

"That sounded like Mikey," Leo said in alarm.

"He must have some big lungs," Bomber commented.

"Come on!" Leo said and took off into the forest around them, Master Splinter right behind them. For his age, the rat still had some speed left in him. But while Michelangelo had snake troubles, the group that found Dev ran into trouble of their own.

The deeper they ran into the forest the more something came to their attention: spider webs. The thin laces of silk hung between tree branches, covered bushes, and got in their path to be run into. At first they didn't pay these webs much mind until there was a cry for help from behind them.

The group stopped and turned around to find Gorf with his foot stuck to a rather thick web that had been thrown between tree trunks near the ground. He yanked and pulled against the webbing but it wouldn't break or release him.

With a huff Bomber went back and helped pull him free. The web stretched until it finally snapped causing both boys to stumble backwards. Gorf fell on his butt and Bomber would have backed into another web if Splinter hadn't caught him by the strap of his overalls.

"This doesn't look good," Dev said, noticing that they were surrounded by spider webs. Looking the way they had come he found no path they had run down; there was just webbing upon webbing. It was almost as if they had just appeared where they stood from thin air rather than walking to their current location. "Defiantly not good."

"Stay on guard," Splinter advised, Leo drew his swords, Dev clenched his fists, and Gorf coward behind Bomber.

The sound of soft scuttling reached their ears; the sound of thousands little feet moving across dirt and leaves.

Something started to tickle the back of Gorf's neck, and it wasn't his hair standing on end. He reached behind his head to scratch it when he touched something unexpected. With a cry of surprise he hurriedly brushed it off, jumping up and down like what would be expected from the stereotypical teenage girl. A single little spider fell to the ground.

"Jeez Gorf," Dev laughed. "I thought you like bugs," he said stepping on the bug with a disgustingly crunchy _squish_.

"I don't like my food sneaking up on me, and spiders are technically arachnids, not bugs."

"Same thing," Dev rolled his eyes.

Splinter's ears twitched at the sound of more creatures coming their way. "Stay away from the trees," he said, eyes shifting from place to place trying to see in every direction at once.

"Easier said than done," Dev said.

Within the short moment of silence that followed Bomber picked up a fallen tree branch the size of a club. Dev followed suit.

"Gorf," Bomber suddenly said, looking above the technician's head, gripping the thick stick. "Don't. Move."

Gorf stiffened at the thought of something coming up from behind him, wondering how big it was, how grotesque…

Suddenly something grabbed his shoulders. The yell of mixed surprise and fear was followed by Dev's laughter.

"That's for sticking a stick up my nose," Bomber said with an amused smile.

"Bomber, Dev," Splinter said sharply. "This is not the time for childish pranks."

"Matter of opinion…" Dev muttered.

Gorf glared at his fellow experiments when he saw the tree over Bomber's head start to move. It lowered down on a thin string, eight legs spreading out. "B- Bom-" he stuttered, weakly pointing.

"Oh please, you can't reuse gags, frog," Bomber said.

The spider was a silvery-green and was just as big as the teen's body, if not a little bigger. A clear slime was dripping from the sharp fangs.

"Bomber…"

"Come on, you too Leo?" Bomber asked, is bottom arms crossed.

Not wanting to wait for the spider to attack, Leo was about to jump forward and slice the spider himself, but someone beat him to the task. Just as the spider was about to close its legs around the unsuspecting experiment something went flying through the air and hit the spider, the force of the throw knocked it sideways and against a tree. After hitting the ground the spider lay there dead with a large ax sticking out of its head.

"Holy-!" Bomber exclaimed, stumbling back from where he had been standing.

"I- tried to tell ya," Gorf said shakily.

"That thing's F'n _huge!_" Bomber exclaimed.

"Who threw the ax?" Dev asked. He quickly got an answer when a body stumbled and tripped, landing on his back, from the direction the ax had come from. It was a kid around the experiments' physical ages. Before they could take in anything farther than the fact that it was a dark skinned guy with his arms bound to his sides by ropes of spider silk he was dragged back behind the trees.

Leo and Splinter followed to see what was going on and to help if possible, while Bomber, Dev and Gorf followed them not wanting to be left alone after seeing just how big the spiders could get in this forest, though Dev did hesitate and grabbed the ax from the corpse before running after the others.

When the group arrived on the scene the boy they just met was kicking, jerking, and spitting swears while the spider that was bigger than the one that tried to kill Bomber, though it had a very small mouth, started to wrap him up in some kind of cocoon.

"Leonardo,"Splinter simply said. Leo nodded and ran forward. The spider was too busy with its prey to realize the lethal turtle before it had a pair of katanas through its back. The spider gave a raspy shriek as it withered in pain before it eventually curled up in death.

Even though the giant arachnid was no longer a threat, the boy continued to kick and curse as he tried to free himself from the sticky webbing wrapped around half of his body.

"Hold on," Leo said, kneeling down and carefully cut through the bindings.

As soon as he could, the boy jumped to his feet. He was clad completely in black: black shirt, black pants, black furry cat ears sticking up out of black hair, sleek black tail, black grenades hanging from a black belt… The only color was his sharp green eyes, the pupils contracted into vertical slits.

Upon getting to his feet the boy shoved Leo back and jumped back himself as another spider landed on the ground where they had been standing. It was barely smaller than the last two, though it looked bigger as it veered up on its eight long legs ready to attack.

"Gr, I _hate_ spiders…" the boy growled through clenched teeth.

Movement out of the corner of his eyes caused Gorf to look behind him. "Guys, we got company! Lots and lots of company…"

While Leo and the boy dodged attacks by the spider, the others were spared time to look around to find hundreds of thousands of normal sized spiders scuttling out from under bushes, trunks, rocks and fallen leaves while others slowly descended from the branches above on barely visible strings.

"How many of these things are there?" Dev asked, gripping the ax in his hands and stomped on the spiders that got too close to his feet. Bomber did the same while Gorf tried not to freak out, suddenly realizing what his live lunches must feel like.

A second spider as big as the one fighting with Leo and the unknown boy appeared, Splinter took on this one. Though the three against the big enemies would have won easily under different circumstances, it seemed that this fight wouldn't have a very good ending. Not only where they getting distracted by the smaller spiders that were attacking their ankles, and landing down on them, but it seemed that even if they did happen to kill the big monsters, the small ones would take care of them by simply outnumbering them. There seemed to be no end to the small spiders!

The final straw was when a third large spider showed up. It seemed the boy they had found had had enough, and he let them know verbally. "Screw this," he muttered and grabbed a grenade in each hand. Jumping back from the spider he had been trying to kill and landed with a series of crunches, he yanked the pins of the grenades out with his teeth. "If you want to live I'd suggest getting out of here!" he called over his shoulder, already heading through the trees himself after dropping the grenades.

One look at the small bombs on the ground and Bomber took off, Dev and Gorf right behind him. Splinter and Leo managed to back away and run as well. A good distance away they found the boy pull two more grenades from his belt, pulled the tabs and threw them back the way they had come. Ten seconds later explosions seemed to shake the ground, the leaves that could move rustled at the vibrations.

"I like this guy," Bomber said with a smile.

Both Leo and Splinter turned towards the boy with questions, but all they found was his back as he started to walk away.

"Hey!" Leo called out.

"What?" the guy asked over his shoulder as he bent down and looked underneath a bush.

"What's your name?"

"What's it matter to you?" the kid asked as he straightened up and looked up towards the branches. "Hm…" He started up the trunk of a tree, boots scratching at the web covered bark.

"What are you looking for?" Gorf asked.

"I lost my gloves in this godforsaken place. You'd think they'd stand out but no, that'd make it easy," he said more to himself than them. "At least I still have my-" he slapped his palm to his forehead. "God damn it, I forgot my ax back there! I'm just losing everything."

"You mean this thing?" Dev said.

The boy glanced down. "Yes, that thing." He jumped down and landed with the gracefulness of a cat. "Give it," he basically commanded, holding his hand out.

Instead of handing the ax over Dev asked "Who are you?"

The boy grabbed another grenade, armed it and threw it through the trees. There was small squealing of pain. "I should be asking you the same," he said, grabbed the wooden handle, and yanked the ax out of Dev's hands. "But this isn't the time or place," he turned away and continued to look through the trees and bushes. "I'm going to find my gloves, you guys leave, stay… I don't really care."

"Tell us what they look like and we could help," Splinter said.

The boy kicked the ground in growing frustration, upsetting some fallen leaves. From the leaves a pair of black gloves flew through the air and landed in the dirt. "There they are!" he said happily and went to go pick them up. Upon putting them on he clenched his fists and three sharp blades about five inches in length extended from the tops. It was similar to the Wolverine character from the X-men movies, and Mikey's comics, but instead of coming from between the knuckles they were placed near the middle of the back of the hand.

The boy smiled at having his gloves back.

In the split second of silence that followed, Splinter's ears twitched. His eyes narrowed. "The fighting is not done."

The boy's cat ears twitched too and he looked around. There was a faint sound of something moving towards them. Suddenly he unclenched his fists - causing the blades in the gloves to retract - and lunged at Dev. Grabbing him by the shoulders he yanked back, pulling the experiment out of the way as a spider that was the size of one of the old bug-robots leapt out from the shadows. Because it missed it turned and landed sideways on a tree trunk instead of on Dev's chest. The spider was white - almost transparent.

"Shit," the boy hissed.

The spider repositioned itself on the trunk of the tree and leapt off. Gorf tripped himself and hit the ground to dodge as the spider flew over his head, a thin strand of silk following it as it landed on the next tree.

"Don't let that touch you!" the boy exclaimed.

Figuring this was one of the few times you ask questions later, Gorf jumped out from under the silk as it gently floated down.

The spider jumped again, this time heading for Leo, more silk coming from its backside. The turtle quickly jumped back. The spider flew by and the silk moved almost in slow motion. Leo was too busy paying attention to the spider; trying to figure its next move, he didn't notice the spider's webbing land on the blade of one of his katanas until he heard a sizzling sound. Looking down he saw that the silk was melting- _eating_ right through the metal!

"What the-!" he exclaimed, dropping his weapon in surprise. By that time the silk had eaten straight through the thin metal and as it hit the ground the blade looked like it had been cut into two halves.

"I don't know about you guys, but I'm getting out of here," the boy said hurriedly and started for the trees to the right.

"Hey- wait!" Gorf called after him.

Not wasting time the group ran after him, Leo, Splinter and Gorf needing to jump over hanging strings of the dangerous webbing. As they ran after the boy the spider chased after them, jumping from tree trunk to tree trunk as easily and lightly like it was on the gravity-lacking moon.

As they ran the numerous spider webs that decorated the plant life around them started to thin until it fell away completely. The spider they were running from seemed to know its place because when Leo looked over his shoulder after they left the spider infested part of the forest it was gone.

The boy they had followed was leaning against a tree momentarily catching his breath. "You guys aren't bad," he commented. "Or at least you're not slow."

"Thanks… I think," Gorf said.

The boy's green eyes finally took the time to look the group over, actually look at them. He passed over the three experiments almost understandingly but he seemed to get snagged on the mutants. "So who are you? How'd you get here?"

The group of plane crash survivors introduced and explained themselves, their situation, and the fact that there might be others like them on the island. When they were done the boy simply said "Hm… You know I saw that plane come down. I bet Tyler already beat me to the crash site… oh well," he shrugged. "Anyway, I'm Nick, call me Nick. Call me Kitty or anything else referring to a cat" he clenched one fist to show the three claws and tightened his grip on the ax "and ya die."

"Got it," Gorf said.

Nick relaxed his fists. "Good and I guess I should take you guys to Base, it's what Marker's always telling us to do. Follow me, and who knows, maybe you're friends are already there."

* * *

Gawd I'm wiped, at school I had 3 tests in a row, it wasn't fun. then there was the whole fact of going to school, and I woke up half an hour ealier than usual...

Anyway, here's this chapter, and if you didn't happen to catch on, Nick's the panther mentioned in the chapter title. And no deserted island is complete without giant humoungs spiders!!

Okay, I'm gonna be on my way now, and as always (which most of you still don't do...)

REVIEW!


	19. Telepathic and Teleporting

**Chapter Eighteen**

**Telepathic and Teleporting**

"Leo!" Mikey exclaimed happily after twisting around in a chair, which was just a sack filled with leaves, to see the group led by Nick appear from the hallway that he had come from when Tyler first brought them to the community of tree houses. He had been trying to play darts sitting down with one hand while the other held a cloth to his nose in the living room wrapped around a giant tree trunk. "Sensei!" He rolled to his feet, jumped, and managed to embrace both family members at the same time. "You guys are okay!"

Dev scooted past the hug. "Yeah we're fine, thanks for asking," he said and looked around when suddenly arms wrapped around his shoulders. "Dah! Get. Off!"

Nick rolled his eyes and jumped up into one of the branches that acted as the room's ceiling. With a flick he got the blade of his ax to stick in the branch and picked one of the odd purple fruits to eat.

"It is good to see you are not badly injured my son," Master Splinter said.

"The same for you guys!" Mikey exclaimed happily.

Gorf came forward from the back of the group. "I wanna hug," he said pitifully.

"You're an embarrassment," Bomber said shaking his head, walking away as the two guys embraced in the merriment of being alive.

"Guys!" Don exclaimed with happy relief after coming in from a doorway while exploring the tree houses with Raph. Mikey would have joined them if he hadn't nearly given himself a concussion by slamming into a wall after swinging on a vine trying to be the 'king of the jungle'.

"So you guys made it too," Raph said.

"Raph was getting worried."

"I was not!"

"Sure you weren't- ow! Dude!" Mikey exclaimed, putting a hand to his head where he had been whacked.

"Is everyone okay?" Leo asked.

"Considering how bad the crash was by seeing the plane on the ground, we're fine," Don said. "Scratched up a little maybe, but fine. You guys?"

"I'm sure we'll live," Leo replied and glanced around. "Is Alex…?"

"Yeah, she's here too," Don nodded. "She's not injured, but the poison isn't getting any better."

While information about everyone's health and wellbeing was being passed around, everyone happy to see each other with nothing but minor injuries, Skyler and Tyler appeared. Tyler had been at the computer on the other side of the tree trunk in the room while Tyler came in from the lift.

"Nick, I see you found more than just your gloves," Skyler commented, one of the odd fruits in her hand with bite marks.

"Wha?" Nick said through the mouthful of fruit. He swallowed. "Yeah, this is, uh- Master Splinter… Leonardo… Bomber, Gorf and Dev - from the plane crash."

"Hey," Tyler said, coming up underneath Nick. "Did the kitty find his mittens that the mean ol' spidey's stole?" he asked mockingly, holding his hands up with a small laugh.

Nick just spat chewed up fruit down at him. "Oh yeah? What would you do if you lost that beloved crossbow of yours?"

"See that's where we're different," Tyler said. "I'm not that forgetful."

Nick picked another odd fruit and threw it down at Tyler, hitting him on the top of the head.

"Gah!" Tyler put a hand to his head and glared up at Nick who simply smiled at him.

While others talked Splinter was doing a headcount. Though he knew Alex was here, only not in the room, he still came up short from the amount of people that had been in the plane before the crash. "Everyone," he said to attract attention. "I believe we are missing a few bodies."

The crash survivors looked at each other trying to figure who wasn't there.

"Razor?" Mikey finally asked.

"Isn't he with you guys?" Leo asked.

"We haven't seen him," Raph said.

"There're more of you guys?" Nick asked. "How many were on that plane?"

A pair of light bulbs simultaneously went on in Dev and Bomber's minds. "Psych?"

At the mention of the name Gorf looked back at the lift they had come from, mouth twisted in anxiety, realizing he hadn't heard a voice in his head since waking up from the crash. Then the image of another five-year-old body popped into his mind. "Jack too," he muttered.

Nick suddenly stopped mid-bite his pointed ears erect, while Tyler and Skyler seemed to straighten at the name. The three shared a look before Skyler asked "Um, did this Jack have a last name by chance?"

"Jumper, I think he said," Don answered. "Why?"

Tyler and Skyler shared a look of disbelief.

Nick jumped down from the branch. "This Jack, about this tall… red hair, weird scar on his face, jumps at almost every sound?"

"Yeah," Mikey said.

"Oh I so told you so!" Tyler exclaimed.

"I told you!" Nick exclaimed back.

"I think I missed something here," Gorf said.

Skyler rolled her eyes at Nick and Tyler arguing over who told whom and stepped forward. "Jack, we know him. You could say he's somehow our… little brother, he's the youngest anyway. He disappeared some time ago. If you know him you should know that he can teleport, when he first disappeared we figured he was just 'jumped' somewhere on the island, but when we couldn't find him we just assumed…" she shook her head with a frown. "There are a lot of carnivorous monsters roaming this island, if Jack and your friends are out there they need to be found - fast."

"Can't Jack just teleport here after he figures where he is?" Nick asked like one not wanting to go out and look for a small body among hundreds of thousands of fully grown trees.

"He's probably already lost," Tyler said, looking up at the ceiling shaking his head.

Skyler turned to the piranha and panther, pointing at the lift. "Then go get him!"

"We're going," Nick and Tyler said together and headed for the way to the ground, arguing over where they should look first.

"Maybe we could be of some help," Leo suggested.

The two stopped, apparently not used to having others offer their assistance to leaving the safety of the wall outside. They looked over their shoulder at the group, at each other and shrugged.

"If you want to come."

"Just don't get lost."

...---... ...---... ...---... ...---... ...---... ...---... ...---...

It was amazing what one could find out at the worst of times. Like, for this instance, find that your tear ducts still functioned after hundreds of years of no use. No one could really blame the small body for having tears of pain leaking down his cheeks and soaking into the black and red scarf, though he was grateful that his leg was the only thing that was broken.

With strangled grunts Psych was forced to drag himself across the dirt until he was out from underneath the surprisingly heavy plane seat. After he awoke it had taken him nearly two hours force his body to move though it complained about his left leg being bent at an angle that shouldn't even be possible under him. It didn't help any that his arms had little muscle, if any at all, and the chair was at least three times his size.

Lacking a mouth, he gasped through the nose in both pain and tiredness. Truthfully all he wanted to do was turn his mind off and go into a deep sleep, just like he had back in the Labs to escape life itself. But he knew this time he had to stay awake, that and there was no way he could sleep with the pain filled signals pulsing endlessly into his brain to constantly remind him that there was something wrong with his body.

Digging his small fingers into the ground he pulled himself forward, dragging the crooked leg behind him, thought shattering pain piercing his mind with every tiny movement the limb made. Finally, when he reached the closest tree trunk he forced himself onto his back, sat up and pulled himself backwards so he was leaning against the tree in a sitting position.

Sweat mixed with the tears as he sat there awkwardly panting through his nostrils. He tried to put all messages to his brain on hold but it wasn't working too well, he wasn't much used to actual physical pain. The most pain he had experienced over the last few years were mainly headaches and the signals that had the tendency to leak into his mind over the mental links with other experiments.

After a while he found that the bone stopped hurting if he didn't do anything to disturb it. Closing his eyes he leaned his head back against the tree trunk and called out to anyone, anything. He sat there a few moments, keeping his mind clear so he could hear anything in response, but there was only silence. He tried again and again but got nothing in reply. There were only three possibilities he could think of for this: one; everyone was unconscious, two; they weren't within the range of his mental abilities, and three; they were all dead - he was hoping for the second one.

Back in the Labs he had held a type of superiority over others for he had age, experience, and telepathy. Those things, however, only applied to the Labs. Out in the wild, this jungle that he found his surroundings to be, he openly admitted himself to be dependent on others, especially in his current condition.

Reaching into his scarf, careful on how he moved his body, he reached into a small pocket that was hidden within the folds of the fabric and pulled out a small vial of red liquid. It was hard to believe that the glass container had survived the crash but it did, and now he feared that holding onto it was pointless. Psych had every intention of getting the antidote to Alex, but there was the matter of actually getting it to her. He would have handed it over on the plane but everything had turned chaotic with the information of the bomb and there was no way to inject it. If he had heard right, simply allowing Alex to drink the liquid would just end with her throwing it back up and that wouldn't be very helpful.

"H-hello?" a weak voice suddenly made Psych's ears prick up. It was small and familiar.

_Hello?_

"I-is- is anyone there?"

Psych looked around but couldn't see anyone while sitting down.

The sound of leaves being pushed aside grew louder and louder. "Someone?" the same voice asked nervously. Psych knew that voice but he couldn't quite place it, he didn't think it was an experiment…

Trying to pinpoint the sound of someone approaching he saw a patch of red appear over an overgrown bush. Sometimes he wished he had a mouth.

The bush rustled as the body on the other side of the plant tried to push its way through the mess of sticks and leaves. Finally the boy, the same size as Psych, appeared.

_Of course,_ Psych thought, remembering where he had heard that voice: it was Jack. He remembered seeing the boy on the plane but never got the chance to introduce himself.

"Oh," Jack said, noticing Psych's presence. "Hi, are you lost too?"

Psych blinked. How could he get Jack to come forward so they could actually talk?

"I think I know where we are," Jack continued, hugging his arms and looking around. "But I can't find where I want to go. I'd jump there but my memories are all fuzzy." He looked at Psych, possibly expected something in reply when recognition hit him. "You were on that plane too, right?"

Psych nodded.

"It was scary but I think I'm okay, how about you?"

Psych looked down at his broken leg. Jack followed his gaze and looked unsettled at the sight of the unnaturally bent limb. His mouth twisted in scared unsettlement. Psych held his arms out for help. Looking around them first, Jack stepped forward and made to help Psych to his good leg, upon contact Psych pushed his consciousness down through his arms, up Jack's arms and into his mind. Jack, not knowing what was happening, tried to pull away but Psych tightened his grip.

Suddenly the ground underneath them disappeared and they were falling. The ground came up too quickly and pain shattered Psych's mind as he landed on the broken leg. He sat there shaking in pain while Jack scrambled backwards not sure what just happened though he was sure that it wasn't safe. Looking frantically around, instinct telling him to get out of there he found that they were in a dried up riverbed. He ran for the edge and tried to climb up.

_W- wait…_

Jack hesitated looking around in confusion. Was he hearing voices again?

_Wait… _It was hurting, that was different.

Looking behind him Jack saw Psych reaching a hand out, looking up at him in pain.

_Th-there's nothing… to fear… _the voice assured him weakly.

Questioningly, Jack slowly went back to the bottom of the riverbed. "You're…"

_In your mind… yes. I can't… speak any… other way. _Psych reached a trembling hand up to uncover the bottom half of his face. Jack stumbled back at what wasn't there, tripped and hit the ground. _But… there's no reason to be afraid. To tell the truth you're more dangerous than I am._

Jack crawled forward. His expression was unsure but it seemed that his fear was starting to melt.

_I… I need you to help me, _Psych said. _My leg's broken, and it hurts, badly. Please._

Jack put a hand to his head. "How…?"

_When we touched, I created a connection between our minds. It's telepathy._

Jack looked Psych up and down one last time as if to make sure that there really was no danger to be found. When he was pretty sure there was nothing hazardous about this mouth-less child he moved closer. "Wh-what do you need?" he asked.

_A… a splint, to hold my leg in place._

"How?"

_I can tell you what to get then we can go from there._

"O-okay."

Fifteen minutes later Psych was sitting against a rock that was sticking up from the ground while giving Jack instructions on how to place the splint made of sticks, vines, and Psych's shirt around the injured leg. He jerked in pain when Jack roughly tightened a knot, gripping his pant legs.

"Sorry," Jack whispered.

_It's- it's fine. Just loosen that last one a little or it'll cut off circulation._ Jack did as ordered. When the work was done Psych leaned his head back, closing his eyes. So much he just wanted to go to sleep. That seemed to fix all his problems - just sleep them off or simply sleep through them. But in the back of his mind he knew that he couldn't go to sleep now. From the density of trees around them, along with the distant animal calls, he could figure that they were in some form of forest and forests mean predators. They weren't safe just sitting where they were; they had to find a shelter or something.

"Um… a-are you gonna be okay?" Jack asked.

Psych managed a nod. When he first shot through the boy's mind to create the mental connection Psych had glimpsed a few memories, thoughts, and emotions, including hints of personality. The memories that were stuck in the brain like burns were sights of lab coats, needles and bright lights, there were sounds of gears turning and electricity running… This was another experiment, just like the telepathic only young enough - maybe even younger - to act his appearance: an easily scared, nervous little kid that deeply depended on those that were bigger than him.

"What do we do now?" Jack asked.

_We have to find shelter,_ Psych replied. _From there we can think of finding the others that were on the plane._

Jack nodded in agreement. He stood and looked around trying to figure which direction seemed the more promising.

While Jack tried to decide on a direction Psych had an unnerving sense of being watched. He looked around and noticed something a ways to his left. Grass was stepped on, the sound so quiet that usually wouldn't be noticed unless the listener was already listening. By the time he saw what was there it was almost too late. _Jack!_

"Huh?" Jack asked, looking down when a red flag shot up in his brain. He slowly lifted his gaze to the sound of a low growl, the type of sound a big animal makes before it pounces. Sure enough, standing not more than fifty feet away was a very large tiger, muscles drawn tense, the tail tip twitching.

Jack was frozen in fear while Psych couldn't move because of his leg.

The tiger took a few starting steps forward then leapt at the small bodies.

Psych snapped his hand out and grabbed Jack's ankle. The sudden contact both startled the boy and made him jump. One second they were sitting ducks for the teeth and claws of a vicious feline, the next they're sitting high up in a tree, Jack clutching the closest branch in fear, Psych's rock luckily replaced by the tree's sharp trunk.

Psych was allowed a sigh of relief before he noticed a rather large bird nest sitting on the end of the branch right in front of them. Inside the nest chirping could be heard. Only a few moments after the pair's arrival did a squawk sound, along with the flapping of wings. The mother of the hatchlings was quick to notice the poachers and swiftly tried to attack.

Psych just barely got a grip on Jack's shirt before the tree disappeared and the ground turned cold. Starting to get dizzy, Psych looked around to find them sitting on a boulder. The sound of hissing surrounded them. Not sure if he even wanted to know, Psych looked at the ground below them to see hundreds of long, narrow, slithering bodies moving among each other covering the ground in a type of grotesque, living spaghetti. Steep walls surrounded them on all sides: they were at the bottom of a snake pit!

Seeing exactly what the ancient experiment did, Jack wrapped his arms around Psych's neck and the boulder suddenly vanished, replaced by dirt and darkness. Compared to the hissing they had just escaped, it was quiet, save for the sniffing coming from Jack who was practically reduced to tears.

While Psych put an arm around Jack's shoulders and tried to push a calming feeling onto the rattled mind, he looked around. The air was rich with the smell of earth and the only light to be found was a patch a few feet in front of them up over their heads. As his eyes adjusted he found that they were sitting underneath a tree where the roots had pushed up on the ground creating a type of open pocket.

"I'm sorry…" Jack whispered, gripping Psych like a life-sized teddy bear.

_Hey it's okay, _Psych said, _look, you saved us _three_ times! And look, you found us a shelter, that's one problem we don't have to worry about._

Jack looked around them for the first time. He grew a small smile at the accomplishment, and then practically put his companion in a headlock when the sharp sound of a stick breaking startled him.

_Its okay! _Psych exclaimed, struggling of the chokehold. _Its okay, _he repeated soothingly when he could breathe again. _Nothing could possibly know we're down here, we're safe._

Shaking, Jack dug his face into Psych's scarf. "I wanna go home…"

Psych, used to being the comforting one, worked his arms around Jack's body. While he kept the much younger experiment from crying, he reached his mind out looking for someone, anyone.

Ten minutes were spent underneath the tree before Psych finally brushed something. He struggled to pinpoint the feeling of another's consciousness but the signal was weak, whoever it was was probably on the edge of his telepathic range. Luckily they came forward and more familiar presences appeared. Psych tried to make him known to any of them, though before he could say anything someone said something to him.

_HI Psych! _It was Gorf. The frog-boy must have told the ones with him about Psych because he could reach their minds easier now that they knew he was there.

_Where are you? _Bomber asked. Guilt stuck in his mind like a long thorn.

_Under a tree, beyond that I really don't know, though I do have someone with me._

_Little kid with red hair? _Don asked. _Really jumpy?_

_Yeah._

There was a pause, then Dev said _According to this guy we're with tell the kid to focus on the names Nick and Tyler and he should be able to teleport you guys to us._

Psych relayed the suggestion to Jack.

Jack lifted his face from the scarf. "Th-that's the theory," he admitted, "but if I don't know where I'm going exactly I usually don't jump on the ground."

_Go ahead and try, _Psych urged him.

"O-okay," Jack said, though he didn't sound too sure of himself as he squeezed his eyes shut. In his concentration Psych caught flashes of the ones the boy was remembering. Nick: the land hunter with the abilities of a panther and the attitude of a bull dog. Tyler: the fierce fisherman who was quick to attack with little question.

Then, like the times before, the ground suddenly disappeared and the two were surrounded by light, and falling. Jack squeezed his living teddy bear to brace for impact. When they hit, the unstable ground exclaimed "Why am I always the damn landing pad?!"

"Ha ha ha ha…!"

"Shuddup Mikey!"

_Sorry… _Psych apologized while jack was too dazed to speak.

"Jack! Scared-y butt! You're alive!" Nick exclaimed scooping the small body up then quickly held him out at arms length after a whiff. "And you smell like pee!"

"Did he piss his pants again?" Tyler asked.

"Smells like it!" Nick exclaimed putting the child down with a shriveled nose.

"I told him I was sorry…" Jack muttered mainly to himself.

"Psych, are you okay?" Don asked, being the first to notice the improvised splint.

_I'm fine, in pain, but fine, _Psych said, scooting off of Raph's back.

"What happened?" Leo asked.

_My seat from the plane came off, as did the seatbelt, and it crushed my leg on the landing._

"Ow," Gorf commented.

"You sure you're okay?" Dev asked.

_I'm fine, really. There's not much we can do unless there's a hospital nearby._

"I think we're missing something here," Tyler commented to Nick with crossed arms.

"This is Psych," Mikey introduced. "He gets in your mind through tel- tele- telp- I can't talk."

"What else is new?" Raph muttered as he got to his feet.

"Raphael," Leo said sharply.

"What I do?"

Tyler shook his head. "So what? We got a telepathic here?"

"Good thing too," Gorf said. "Psych can't talk, he ain't got no mouth."

Nick sighed. "What next?" he asked the branches overhead. Not waiting for an answer he asked "Now who are we missing?"

"Razor," Leo answered.

"Right, Razor," Tyler said. "Well good luck with that, I'm gonna go take stinky back to the tree house for a much needed bath. Nick, don't 'misplace' anyone."

"Don't lose Jack, Marker's gonna be happy to see him," Nick said back.

"Yeah, yeah whatever," Tyler waved it off and walked through the trees with Jack clutching his camouflage pants.

Nick noticeably reframed from saying anything and turned to the others. "Apparently we could go back because what's-his-name has a busted leg, or we can continue on and see if what's-his-name can find… what's-his-other-name the same why he found us."

"Psych and Razor," Dev corrected, a harshness creeping into his voice.

"Close enough," Nick said.

"For the benefit of Psych's broken leg we should probably head back," Don suggested, "to keep from further injuring the bone."

"Here, I'll just take him back," Dev offered, wings subconsciously twitching. "It'll be faster and probably safer."

"Until you hit a tree branch," Bomber commented.

"Then you carry him, trip, and fall off a cliff," Dev retorted.

_Guys, there's no point in fighting. Dev you can take me, its fine._

Dev gave a Bomber a childish smirk at the small win and picked Psych up, the boy cringed a little when he accidentally kicked himself but didn't complain. Watching the branches above him Dev lifted up to the lowest branch and jumped from branch to branch with the help of his wings until he finally broke free of the trees and was up in open space under the red sky.

With his arms firmly wrapped around Dev's neck, Psych looked around. It was a nauseously long way down from the height Dev was flying, but the sight was still unbelievable: the alien red sky, the volcano, the sea of leaves stretching out until it morphed into the rolling waves of the ocean on all sides… From way up here he could make out the river that was the rapids creating a ring around the middle of the large island, the volcano the very center. Smaller rivers snaked slyly through the trees to feed the rapids ocean water.

_Where are we? _Psych asked curiously. From his training lifetimes ago he was pretty sure he knew of most of the Earth's geography, and he was sure an island shaped like this would be somewhere in the books, but he couldn't' recall ever hearing about it.

_The middle of the pacific, _Dev mentally replied. _That's all I know._

_I'm sure we'll find out when the time's right._

_Whenever that is._

_Soon enough. Is everyone okay?_

_According to Don Alex is no better than when we found her, and we haven't found Razor yet but everyone else seems to be doing okay considering._

_That's good. Uh- Dev._

_Yeah?_

_No _Dev_, _**DEV!**

Suddenly a screech cut through the air, there was a rush of wind and Dev was tumbling through the sky. It took him a couple seconds to figure out which way was up and get his wings back into rhythm before he realized that his arms were empty.

* * *

I just can't give anyone a break, or I give someone a few breaks, he he... yeah that was a bad pun. Anyway it seems there's gonna be a bit of trouble in the next chapter, oh what will happen???

If you'd people _review_ I might tell ya!

REVIEW!


	20. Fishing for Birds

**Chapter Nineteen**

**Fishing for Birds**

It was a race for the falling body. There was Dev in the lead and in second place was some kind of creature. It looked almost like a small dragon with scaly skin, sharp teeth hand claws and a powerful tail though it only had a wing span of about sixteen feet. Even though the species of the creature was uncertain there was one thing for sure: it was hungry.

Dev managed to catch Psych before the creature and the tree tops. He didn't waste time to shoot off. Later he would think it a bad idea to lead the creature to the community of tree houses, but at the moment his mind was in a frenzy and all he could think to do is head for the only safe place he knew.

Psych, now staring over Dev's shoulder, watched the monster. It gave another screech and rushed forward. _Go left!_

Reflexively Dev glanced over his shoulder before he did a barrel roll to the left, tightening his grip on the body in his arms.

The creature shot passed them but was quick to turn around. With another battle screech it shot forward again.

_Right!_ This time Dev was quick to obey and rolled right.

By this time the creature was getting mad.

"I can't shake this thing!" Dev exclaimed after doing numerous dips, swerves, rolls and flat out dives but he was still forced to curl his legs in so they weren't taken by the monster's strong jaws. Before he dropped his cargo he tucked his wings in and went into a straight drop headfirst. _Just like Metal Chicken, just like Metal Chicken… _he assured himself, watching the raising ground though squinting eyes.

Only a few feet behind him, the creature dove in chase.

_What are you doing? _Psych asked.

_Let go, _Dev simply said.

_Dev don't, you don't have to-_

_Trust me!_

Unwillingly, Psych pulled his arms away from the flier's neck

The ground was coming up fast to meet them, they were sure to hit headfirst beside the river. But at the very last second Dev's wings snapped out and he strained to pull up, purposely dropping Psych on top of a bush.

Not taking the time for the small fry, the creature continued to follow Dev back into the sky.

On the other side of the river the group of experiments and mutants appeared following the creature's screeching. Nick took one look and shoved everyone back under the trees.

"Hey!" Bomber snapped, throwing Nick's hand off.

"Sh!" Nick hissed. "Do you want to bring it down here?!"

"Why didn't you say anything about something like that?" Leo demanded.

"I've never seen anything like that before!" Nick snapped. He took a cautious glance back to the skies and came back with a growl. "Freak'n scientists coming up with new monsters every freaking day…" he muttered.

Another screech split the air.

"We gotta do something!" Gorf exclaimed.

"Shut up!" Nick hissed again. 'Unless any of you guys can fly too there's nothing we can do, Tyler's the only one with a weapon that shoots projectiles and he's not here."

Though he didn't want to, Leo had to agree.

"But Dev," Gorf continued, "and- and Psych."

_I'm fine, _Psych's voice suddenly appeared. _Look across the river. _Those that heard did as told to see the old experiment sitting uncomfortably in a bush.

"But Dev…" Gorf repeated when there was another screech from the monster in the sky.

"Is falling," Raph narrated, going against Nick's word as he stood out from under the trees, looking up.

"You mean diving," Bomber corrected, "he does that."

"No," Raph shook his head "he's falling."

Everyone came forward to look. Just like Raph said, Dev was actually falling, he was trying to flap but one of his wings was having trouble moving. The creature dove after him.

Dev looked from the monster o the Earth while he fell right for the river. _Sharp teeth or raging rapids - what a decision…_

With a deep breath he braced for impact but he wasn't ready for the sharp slap from hitting the ice cold water. The current had a hold of him at once. He tumbled and rolled, flailing his arms looking for the surface. Finally he found air and gasped at the sweet oxygen but before he could get air in his lungs a rock suddenly appeared, hitting him in the gut and knocked the little air he had back out. Hugging the rock, the river painfully lashing at the claw marks on his back and his messed up wing, while coughing he heard a screech behind him.

Forcing himself to take another deep breath and hold it, Dev dunked himself into the water, still holding onto the rock.

Sharp claws broke the water's surface and grasped cloth. The relentless creature pulled up with Dev's shirt in its grasp. It continued to pull as Dev kept his slippery, but desperate, grip on the rock. Thankfully the creature yanked so hard that it ripped the shirt and flew up with nothing but torn material. Dev, unfortunately, was suddenly dropped back down, hit his jaw on the rock that had just saved him, lost his grip and was tumbling through the rapids once again.

Up on dry land, the group was following the doomed experiment trying to find a way to save him. At the moment it seemed that there was just no way to get to Dev. He was near the center of the rapids, and the current was so strong that if anyone was crazy enough to try and swim out they'd only be swept away in moments.

Through this situation there was still the problem of the monster wanting a meal. Each time Dev didn't manage to snag a rock in hopes of not drowning the creature would swoop down at him and try to grab him in its claws.

"Better find a way to get him out fast," Nick said, simply tagging behind the group that actually knew the one in danger. "Up ahead the ground'll start to rise and the river gets narrow, the rocks sharper, between two cliffs."

"Not. Helping!" Gorf huffed over his shoulder.

"Jus' sayin'," Nick said coolly.

...---...

Coughing, Dev barely got a hold of the closest rock with his legs being tossed behind him in the current. The rock was wet and smooth and too large for him to reach around, there was no telling how long he could keep his grip, but that wasn't exactly the problem at the moment. Right now his scrambled thoughts were focused on the fact that he had just snorted river water up the nose.

When he could breathe, he tried to look around for the location of the creature that was after him but his eyes were filled with water and he couldn't risk wiping them. The river seemed to be sweeping his strength away; it was all he could do to just hold on to life with aching fingers.

The monster screeched again, signaling that it was about to attack, and swooped down at him. Dev saw it coming but couldn't bring himself to do anything. All he could do was hold on… just hold on…

Suddenly there was a lot of splashing. Something had reached out of the water and grabbed the creature by the feet. The monster was frantically flapping to get away but whatever had it was using the strength of the rapids to suck it into the water. After a few life-or-death seconds the thing in the water lost its grip and the creature, having learned its lesson, flew away with some angrily scared hissing over its shoulder.

Unable to register the fact that one of his problems was taken care of, Dev's hands slipped and he was at the mercy of the merciless river.

...---...

_I'm gone for a few hours and someone tries to drown… _The gilled body chased after the flier, cutting through the water and pushing around rocks until scarred arms wrapped around the weak experiment.

Knowing he had to get Dev back to oxygen he hurried to catch a rock and pulled Dev through the surface, holding him with one arm by reaching under Dev's arm and across his chest.

Dev coughed and gasped when he got the chance.

While the waterlogged body tried to breathe the aquatic one looked for a way out of the rapids.

About a quarter mile down river a bridge that had been knocked down hung loosely, tossing and twisting in the current.

"Hang on just a little longer," he encouraged the flier, tightening his grip and let go of the rock. It was a fight to reach the side of the rapids and keep Dev above water as much as possible, but he managed and caught the bridge as he passed.

"Come on, you gotta help me here."

Dev struggled to pull his arms out of the river but he could handle it and grasped one of the soaked planks. With the help of his saver, Dev weakly dragged himself out of the river and collapsed face down on the ground. "Th… thanks, Razor."

"No problem and thank you."

"For… for what?"

"Not needing CPR."

Dev cracked a smile. "I'm… glad about that too."

"Hey!" a voice called from the other side of the river. Sitting on the edge of the land, Razor looked over to see Mikey and Gorf waving energetically.

_Good to hear you're okay, Razor._

Razor looked around but didn't see the five-year-old body. _Where are you?_

_About two hundred yards to your left stuck in a bush._

_A bush?_

_I'll explain later, would you mind coming to get me? I'm a little handicapped at the moment._

Razor tapped Dev on the leg. "Hey, do you think you could stay out of danger for a few minutes?"

"Yeah whatever," Dev muttered looking ready to just sleep.

While Razor stood up to go find Psych, across the river Nick said, "Come on, the bridge here is wasted-"

"Oops.." Mikey muttered under his breath.

"-there's another one farther down," Nick continued without hearing Mike. "We can cross there."

...---... ...---... ...---... ...---... ...---... ...---... ...---...

"Ah! Stop touching it!"

"It's not broken," Don said after examining Dev's bad wing when they crossed the river with Nick to find Dev dozing on the ground.

"I could have told you that," Dev snapped as he sat with crossed arms. "That- _thing_ grabbed me and dislocated it."

"Dislocated huh?" Bomber said, moving towards the injured.

"Yes, wait- Bomber don't you dare-!" Dev tried to threaten when he felt a hand grab the wing close to where it joined his back. The wing was suddenly jerked with a wave of pain. "Gah- mother fu-!"

"Better?" Bomber cut him off after popping the wing back into place.

Dev flapped the wing with relief. "Yeah actually, but that's beside the point!"

"Oh don't be a baby."

"Looks like that thing slashed ya too," Mikey observed, seeing the patch of red growing around four rips in Dev's shirt near the lower back.

"That must be when it first attacked," Dev remembered feeling the hot sting when he accidentally dropped Psych in the air.

"Does it hurt?" Gorf asked.

"I've felt worse," Dev said truthfully. "How bad is it?" he asked over his shoulder.

Don crouched down to examine the slices. "They don't look too deep, but you'll need stitches and'll have a few scars."

"Better than death by being eaten," Dev shrugged.

"Lucky I showed up then," Razor said, walking up with Psych on his back.

"Where have you been anyway?" Gorf asked. "The place crashed like, three - four hours ago… I think."

"Wandering," Razor shrugged. "A couple of wolves chased me into the river a while ago, and then I found you guys." He looked over everyone that was there, his eyebrows came together. "Alex? Splinter?"

"They're safe," Leo assured.

Razor nodded then noticed the kid that he didn't know, who was looking at him funny. "What?"

Nick shook his head as if to erase a thought. "N-nothing, you just look like… uh- no, f- forget it." He rubbed his eyes and turned around to head through the trees. "Unless you guys are forgetting anymore friends, that should be everybody, I'm going home."

Razor pointed at Nick's retreating back. "Who's Mr. Cat?"

Nick stopped mid-step. His fists clenched and the blades in his gloved extended. He turned around to face Razor with fire in his eyes. "What'd you call me?" he growled.

Instinctively, Razor's muscles tightened as his lips parted in a sharp toothed snarl in response to the threat.

Leo stepped between them. "We're on the same side here. There's no need to fight."

_Razor, _Psych told the defensive shark. _Calm down, this is Nick. We have yet to get to know him, let's not do it on the wrong foot._

There was a very long moment of silence before Nick let go of his fists; retracting the blades, turned, and walked away. It was apparent, though, that all as not forgiven because he pulled his ax, which had been hanging from a loop on the side of his pants, and swung it around with a tight grip on the handle. Every other tree trunk would be whacked by the sharp blade as the boy passed, not even looking to see if the others were following.

"Hey wait up!" Gorf called, sprinting after him.

Don helped Dev up and the group of plane crash survivors followed Nick through the forest.

* * *

Sorry that this chapter is so short but it would be too long if I put in what happens next so I'll just leave it here. And sorry that it took me so long to update.

Yep, everyone's back together now there's just the matter of finding out just where they are and getting back to New York. Sounds simple right? ...right? *rubs hands together with an evil smirk*

Anyway, it appears that this island isn't very fun with all these monsters lurking around. The only thing that'll make it complete is a T-Rex - oh wait, I wasn't supposed to tell ta that...


	21. A Familiar Face

**Chapter Twenty**

**A Familiar Face**

_This _always_ happens, it never fails. I come this way at least six times a year and yet I _"Always. Walk. Into. The. _Freaking. Quicksand!_" The boy gave a huff of frustration as he stretched for the vine hanging almost mockingly above his head. He had already sank down to his knees. There was no panic, no racing heart, no terror filled thoughts, no fearing for his life… he had already done that the first five times when he first arrived on the island about eighteen- nineteen years ago. Now it was just a routine of falling into the deathly pits and fighting to get back to solid land.

He waved his arms up over his head, fingertips barely brushing the vine while he steadily slipped deeper and deeper into the ground.

"Come on…" he growled. With a jerk he kicked his legs and made a movement that wasn't even a hop, but it worked. With a quick grasp he managed to grip the vine in a fist. With a sharp toothed, victorious smile he grabbed the vine with his other hand and worked on pulling himself up.

Muscles formed from swimming through currents of all kinds and running from robots and monsters alike made it easy to climb up to the tree branch. He looked down at himself, at the once black pants that were now muddy brown from being covered in wet sand.

"Damn it," he muttered running a grey hand across the material and shifting from side to side on the branch. He crawled across the branch and dropped to the ground pulling at the seat of his pants. "Freaking sand getting in every crease."

With another huff he picked up the sack that had been thrown to the side to keep it from the quicksand and slung it over his shoulder.

A hunting cry from behind the trees had him moving forward. Another cry caused him to walk faster. Minutes later there was a howl that was too close for comfort and had the boy running.

_What are wolves doing this close to the sandpits? They're supposed to be farther west of the volcano!_

He glanced over his shoulder, swearing that he could hear paws coming up behind him. There were no predators behind him but he had other matters to think about when he stepped through a muddy surface and he was, once again, knee deep in quicksand. "…god damn it."

...---... ...---... ...---... ...---... ...---... ...---... ...---...

Nick turned around as the gate slid shut behind them, ears twitching. "Strange, the wolves are hunting. They usually aren't out 'til later."

"Is that something to be worried about?" Leo asked.

"Nah," Nick shook his head turning away from the gate to head for the lift at the base of the main tree house. "The wolves are clear on the other side of the rapids. Though they do have a habit of crossing the bridge… but there's no way they could get through the fence."

"What if they tunnel under it?" Don asked.

Nick stopped and looked back at the wall. After a moment he simply replied "Don't go out after dark." He glanced up at the sky. It had turned a darker shade of red. "Its getting late anyway, better hope no more of your friends are out there."

"Looks like everybody to me," Leo said.

"Why?" Razor asked as they moved to the large tree and gathered on the lift. Nick pulled the lever that started the lift, obviously ignoring him. "Hey!"

_Razor, be nice… _Psych told the shark.

"Tell him to be nice first…" Razor muttered.

"Why can't we go out after dark?" Mikey asked for him.

"Because," Nick said to him "the creatures I'm sure you all've seen already are just the small fry. The worst always come out when the sun goes down."

Though Gorf grew a nervous look Raph crossed his arms. "How bad we talkin' 'bout here?"

Nick flicked a quick smile at Gorf's reaction before he told, "This island is prone to ship wrecks, especially during storms. One time a cruiser that had lost its way wound up on the beach well into the evening. Me and Tyler always check out crashes for anything that can be salvaged, course we didn't' get there 'til morning. Now this is a big party cruiser, maybe five- six hundred people plus crew, easy, and it's a rule for us to take in any survivors, help those in need, ya know?"

"I think Tyler's forgetting that rule…" Mikey muttered rubbing his neck.

"So anyway," Nick continued. "We find the ship, it's not in bad shape but the people are in a panic. The first mate tried to 'scare us off' with a torch made form his shirt and a stick. When he finally got it through their heads that we speak English we find out that no one had drowned in the crash, but through the night a crowd of six hundred had been reduced to a measly eight - that's including what was left of the crew."

"That has to be an exaggeration," Down said.

Nick gave him a look that said 'is it?' before turning towards the waiting hallways when the lift stopped and walked through the shadows.

"…isn't it?" Don asked the others.

"He's jus' try'n ta scare us," Raph said, unmoved by the tale.

"Well it worked on _some _of us," Bomber directed at Gorf but Mikey was the one that exclaimed "I'm not scared!"

Dev rolled his eyes. "Whatever, move," he pushed Gorf out of the way to walk down the hall. Though the slashes he had gotten from that winged monster had somewhat scabbed over the sight of all the blood that had seeped into his clothes wasn't exactly a pleasant sight to see.

Out in the forest there was a hunting cry that was quickly followed by the screech of a dying animal that upset a flock of birds. Numerous glances were cast towards the wall that hid the nightmares slowly moving into the spreading dark.

A might roar that echoed through the air had Gorf and Mickey flying off the lift and into the safety of the tree house, the others followed at a less nervous pace.

The tree houses were lit with burning candles hanging on the walls filling the rooms with flickering firelight.

When the group walked in they were just in time to see Dev being shoved towards the infirmary by Sklyer. Mikey and Gorf were safely huddled on one of the leaf-filled bags near a meditating Splinter. Nick appeared pushing the wheelchair that had been sitting in front of the computer at the back of the room.

"Here," he said "whats-his-name can use this with that leg."

"His name is Psych," Bomber said almost defensively as Razor eased the small body into the chair. The wheelchair was a little big for the ancient five-year-old but he could still reach the bigger wheels to move. He had to be careful, though, that the tail of his scarf didn't get caught.

"Psych, whats-his-name, you still know what I mean."

"Whatever, _cat_," Razor said.

Nick glared at him but before anything could happen between them the lift turned on. Moments later Tyler appeared with Jack tagging along behind him.

"Hey you made it back in one piece," Tyler said in mock surprise. Then he saw Razor. Tyler shared the same look Nick had when Nick first saw Razor. "Nick…" Tyler said slowly, grabbing Nick's shoulder. "I need to talk to you." He pushed Nick out of the room.

Razor watched them go in self-conscious confusion. "What's up with them?"

Jack shrugged.

...---...

"Ow! _Shit!_" Dev jumped off the cot, his bare lower back on fire. On the other side of the cot Skyler put one hand on a hip while the other hand held a brown bottle. "What the hell is that stuff, _acid_?!"

"It's a disinfectant," Skyler corrected.

"It's acid!"

Across the room Alex groaned and covered her head with the covers.

"Its protection against infection, now stop being a baby and lay down," Skyler commanded sharply. She was used to playing the forceful doctor. After the time Tyler shot Nick in the rump with an arrow on 'accident' the girl had been growing a commanding voice when it came to first-aid.

Unwillingly Dev flopped onto the cot face down and Skyler, with much wincing from the injured, continued to pour acid on the wounds. When she was done cleaning them Skyler worked on the stitches much to Dev's swearing. When that was done Dev was only too happy to get up and out of there.

"Try not to bend over too far for the next couple days," Skyler advised before he left "or the thread'll break."

Dev waved the advice off as he walked across the bridge. Halfway he stopped from hearing something… voices, two of them but it was hard to make them out. Looking around he flexed his wings and jumped off the bridge. Going up to the higher tree houses scattered among the branches he silently made his way through the leaves until he was in a good position on a branch right above the two that were talking. It was Nick and Tyler.

"-I've noticed it too. He does look like him."

"Except for the scars."

"Well duh, but it's strange."

"You're telling me. If this Razor-guy didn't have the scars and the green bandana I'd say he was a clone."

"But that's dumb, why make a clone of us?"

"What if he's a robot?"

"Nah, I saw him in the rapids, he moves too well to be a robot. And besides he seems to know the others."

"Maybe they're all robots!"

"No, that bird-kid can bleed."

"Okay, not robots… what if they're spies? Come to find out where we are then go snitch to the scientists?"

"That... makes sense. But how do we prove it?"

In his hiding spot Dev had to resist the urge to yell down how stupid they were being. "Oh my god..." he muttered instead. That was a mistake. As soon as he made a sound there was a _whoosh _as an arrow flew by mere inches from his ear. Dev froze knowing that if he moved he'd only give his position away further.

"What is it?"

"I don't know, thought I heard something."

A howl echoed through the air.

"Jeez, those wolves are really going at it."

"What if it's…"

"Nah, couldn't be, he's more careful than that."

...---... ...---... ...---... ...---... ...---... ...---... ...---...

"_**SHIT!!!**_"

It was one thing to fall in quicksand five times in a row, it was another to be chased by a pack of wolves, it was _completely _different to be chased by a particularly hungry pack of wolves while tripping through quicksand and then lose your footing while at the top of a very steep, rocky hill and go tumbling down.

He finally managed to stop by grabbing onto a tree while he passed. Working to stand up he gripped the bag he absolutely refused to lose and looked around.

At the top of the hill the wolves stopped and looked down at him. These weren't any ordinary wolves with the pack leader being the size of a small horse with the strength to knock down a small tree simply by jumping on it.

There was a split second stare down between predator and potential prey before the smaller wolves started down the slope at alarming speeds. With another swear the boy ran as fast as he could down the hill.

A rotting tree trunk appeared in his path. He was going too fast to slow down and there was no footing to properly dodge it so he did the only thing there was to do: run into it. The trunk broke on impact, the middle already hollowed out by bugs and age, and before he knew it the boy had invented dirt-boarding - though he could use some work on steering.

Things were going pretty good at the time, the slope steep enough to keep him ahead of the wolves. But it quickly turned out that the wolves weren't his only problem. The hill he was on didn't even out, it dropped off. He figured out that there was a fifty foot drop waiting for him a little too late. With only enough time to yell his board slid right over the edge of the cliff and he was airborne. It was only too bad that he had been built for the swimming, not flying.

With one hand gripping the bag and the other holding down the bandana on his head, he yelled through the air until he finally landed with a splash in a deep lake.

Under the water he choked on the sudden change from straight oxygen to oxygen filled water but quickly overcame the change and gave a sigh of relief, hugging the tightly sealed, waterproof sack to his stomach.

He just floated there for a much welcomed moment of silence - too bad nothing lasts forever. Hearing a splashing he looked around, well aware that the sun had started setting a while ago, and looked for the creature that had just entered the water. He quickly found that it hadn't been one creature, but five very large, very mean, very hungry looking crocodiles.

_Oh you have got_ _to be kidding me…_

...---... ...---... ...---... ...---... ...---... ...---... ...---...

Skyler walked into the main tree house after having an argument with a very stubborn patient. Though Alex had lightly complained of being hungry she refused to eat anything, "I'll just puke it back up…" was her response to the mention of possible food. Skyler had decided not to press the matter at the time being, Alex's fever wasn't getting any better (it seemed to be getting worse actually), and it seemed that she had become too weak to lift her own tail. Though Skyler didn't know how heavy the metal blades were it was obvious how weak a creature was getting when a body part had gotten too heavy to lift.

Entering the circular living room she faltered at the sight of the newest additions to the group. A small boy with a splinted leg had fallen asleep in the wheel/computer chair, an old blanket with a large "J" sown into the fabric draped over him. It was Jack's; she had seen Jack when Tyler showed up with him, the two heading for the small hut, built by the lake that was used as the washroom, with an extra pair of pants.

What made her falter, though, was a very familiar looking scene: Jack was sitting in the lap of his breathing security blanket, half asleep, clutching the guy's shirt in his small fist. But then, she realized, the older body wasn't who she thought, it was someone else. _He looks just like…_ she thought uncertainly. Her thought was cut off, however, from a voice coming from across the room.

"Skyler! I've been looking for you. Man, this place is big…" It was Stripes, the tiger shark that Nick and Tyler had found shipwrecked on the beach a few days ago. When he first arrived he was horribly dehydrated from lying beached in the sand all night and well into the late morning, but a long sleep at the bottom of the lake had seemed to rejuvenate him well enough. The 'drowning' had been Tyler's suggestion; it always worked for him when he was recovering from getting sick.

As he walked across the room, a hand holding his cheek, he stopped taking in noticing who else was in the room. "Guys!" he exclaimed with recognition. "Razor, Gorf!" he said happily. "Never thought to find you guys here!"

"Stripes!" Razor said, getting up from sitting on one of the fur rugs that covered the floor. "Man I haven't seen you since… well since we escaped. I tried to find you on the internet but you were never online."

"Neither were you," Stripes said back. "But anyway-" he stopped with a cringe, second hand going to his cheek. "Gah- you gotta help me here," he pleaded. "I've been meaning to ask Tyler but he always disappears."

"What, you got a loose tooth?" Razor asked.

"Try loose _teeth_."

"Oh yeah, yours always did fall out in groups. How many?" Razor asked.

"Six- nnnnngh- seven."

"Seven? God damn, you have any left in there?"

"Too many," Stripes whimpered. "The new ones are coming in real quick."

"Have you tried biting a bone?"

"It splintered on me, and tree bark's no better- no, _sticks_ are worse and they taste horrible. I tried pulling them out by hand but," he held up a bandaged hand "I have a slight tendency to bite myself."

"Hm… Let me see the damage," Razor said holding Stripes's jaw for him. With a groan Stripes opened his mouth. Razor, being used to his own breath, had no trouble with the stench of rotting fish emanating from the hole lined with jagged spikes for teeth. "Ng…" he grimaced. "Yeah it doesn't help that you have a sliver of bone jammed into the gum on the bottom ride side."

"So ahs wha ah ih," Stripes said trying to keep his mouth open.

"Hey Raph," Razor said, turning towards the turtle. "Lend me your sia real quick."

"Wha- hell no!" Raph snapped, gripping his one weapon protectively. It's bad enough that he had already lost one sia to the forest he's not losing the other one to a backed up garbage disposal.

"Only for a minute," Razor urged. "This dude's in pain here."

"No!"

Stripes whimpered. "What am I gonna do? I can't find anything hard enough to bite to rip these teeth out."

Bomber, who had been lounging on a sad excuse for a chair like he had been there for years, suddenly got an idea. He stood up and went to the aquatic soldiers. "So where does it hurt?" he asked.

Stripes touched the sore spot on his cheek with a wince. "Most of 'um are around here."

"Right there, ya sure?" Bomber asked. Stripes nodded miserably in confirmation. "Alright then, this might hurt a little."

"Wha-?" Stripes didn't even get to finish the one syllable word before he got a punch across the face. It was strong enough, and so sudden, that Stripes was knocked sideways, spinning as he tried to keep his balance. When he stopped, though still unstable, Stripes put a hand under his mouth and spit out five yellowish triangles with a small string of blood.

Though the job wasn't done Stripes managed a drunken smile "…thanks…" was all he could say before he fell backwards and hit the floor.

Raph couldn't help it; he smiled, remembering the time when he was seven and 'helping' Mikey with a very stubborn tooth that woulnd't give up without a fight. But, of course, Raph got the final say in the matter, or, more accurately, the final punch. It wasn't his fault; they had already gone through every trick in the book. The string-and-doorknob-trick, chewing gum, chewing gummy bears, wiggling it, yanking on it with both hands and a pair of tweezers they had 'borrowed' from Donnie's old chemistry set, they were too impatient to wait… finally, a whole bag of apples later, little Raph was getting irritated so he did the first thing that came to mind: just punch it. In the end the tooth hadn't stood a chance.

Back in the present, Dev had walked into the room from somewhere. He looked down at the dazed Stripes. "…do I _want _to know?"

"Bomber's not a very good dentist," Mikey informed.

"Oh," Dev said as if that explained everything. He looked at the snoozing Psych with a smirk. "Some things never change, huh?"

...---... ...---... ...---... ...---... ...---... ...---... ...---...

_Wolves… crocodiles… giant dragon-type-things… and now what could _"Possibly go wrong!" the boy exclaimed aloud as he dragged himself out of the river. Not equipped with the right equipment to fend off five crocodiles he had done what anyone would do: run. The reptiles had been fast but he was faster. Going through the trees again he had found the rushing rapids, but, to his dismay the bridge was gone. Getting ready to walk to the next bridge with a huff he heard the screech of an animal from above.

Nineteen years living on this monster infested island had trained his reflexes to work before he knew what was coming, so instead of looking up to figure out what was attacking he had dove back into the trees.

The winged creature that (unknowing to him) had attacked Dev was still looking for its meal. The thing was small enough to fit through the trunks and that's exactly what it did, snapping at the form that had scrambled to its feet and dashed for it. Not knowing what to expect, though part of his mind was waiting for a breath of fire to hit him full blast in the back, the boy made a large curve through the trees and dove into the rapids. The creature didn't follow.

It had been a fight against the currents, but he had made it into one of the rivers that fed the rapids and swam upstream a good distance before he finally heaved himself onto dry land, the bag still clutched securely in his hand.

With a sigh of tiredness the weary body started through the trees heading for the nice warm bed that would be waiting for him.

Too busy daydreaming about sleep, he didn't realize what territory he was walking through, a mistake he was usually stuck scolding Nick for, until it was too late.

Tripping over a root that stuck out of the ground he fell against a tree that was just making it to adulthood. The force caused the tree to shake and an object the size of a basketball fell to the ground. It broke open on impact. Angry buzzing filled the air soon after.

Seeing the dots through the darkness that was slowly pressing onto the land the boy was zooming through the forest trying to outrun the bees. In his hurry he ran right through an area filled with silk capped eggs, each the size of a bowling ball. The disturbance started the hatching early and from each egg a hornet that was at least four feet tall emerged. Aside from the size, he knew, these weren't ordinary hornets; yes their stings were very venomous, but they also had very sharp fangs and claws to boot.

Since the hatching was premature only a select few made it out of their eggs, but there were still a good thirty in number.

The boy looked around him; at the giant insects that were going to start searching for the nearest thing they could call food.

"This just ain't my day…"

...---... ...---... ...---... ...---... ...---... ...---... ...---...

Psych jerked awake and looked around. Seeing that he was still in the safe tree house he shook his head tiredly when a feeling of forgetting something came over him.

"You okay?" Dev asked.

Psych nodded, rubbing an eye with a fist. _Yeah… just a dream._

"'bout what?" Bomber asked.

_Bugs- hornets actually, really big, hungry hornets…_

"That's weird," Gorf admitted.

Secretly Rah grimaced with a shudder. He _hated_ bugs.

"What?" Nick asked, reappearing from his and Tyler's private talk with two of the fruits that grew in the ceiling in his hands. He tossed one of the fruit to Skyler, the other already covered in bite marks.

"Nothing, just Psych had a nightmare about big bugs," Gorf informed.

"Bugs?" Nick repeated. "How big?"

Gorf looked at Psych. "About… four feet tall hornets."

"Really…" Nick looked towards the lift.

"What is it?" Leo asked.

"Oh just the fact that there's a series of giant hornet nests not far form here."

"You mean large quantities of nests?" Don asked.

Tyler shook his head. "No, he means giant as in giant bugs. But I'm sure it doesn't mean anything."

"JEFF! OPEN UP!" a voice suddenly yelled from outside. "NICK, TYLER! B2-30!!"

"I hear buzzing," Razor said.

Nick, Tyler and Skyler ran to one of the bridges and looked at the gate, it was opening and a dark figure zoomed in, a fierce buzzing sound followed.

"Oh he's done it this time…" Tyler said.

"And to think he always chews _me_ out when I disturb the freaking hornets," Nick almost pouted.

"Tyler," Skyler said, taking control - she _was _in charge after all. "Get some lights down there. Tyler, go get a suitable weapon along with one for him," she commanded indicated the ground.

"Flamethrower?" Nick asked hopefully.

"Just don't burn down another tree."

Nick gave a squeak of joy and ran off, Tyler was already gone.

Skyler moved back into the room.

"What's going on?" Leo asked.

"A friend of ours showed up with unwanted guests. The basics: we got four foot hornets loaded with venom, fangs and claws coming in. Possibly thirty in number. If ya don't mind, we could use some help."

Mikey jumped up. "Exterminators at your service."

"Any specific way to kill these things?" Bomber asked.

"Stabbing, bashing, and crushing have seemed to work in the past."

"And now," Nick walked in with a long metal tube that had a lighter at the end in his hands, two full tanks of fuel strapped to his back. "Let's see how flammable they are."

...---...

Close to the lake in the middle of the tree house community stood a single tree - those that had surrounded it had been cut down years ago. In this tree was a hut that had been shoved into the branches which housed an array of firearms. There was only one bridge that reached this hut along with an emergency ladder leading to the ground.

In this hut Tyler loaded a large box with an assortment of special arrows along with a few other toys. Picking the box up, groaning at the weight, he ran back across the bridge, through the connecting tree houses and stopped on the bridge facing the gate.

Without wasting time he replaced his usual arrows with ones equipped with flares. He shot the arrow down where it stuck into the ground, the flare bursting to life on impact. Fifteen arrows later - five of them landing in a few unlucky hornets - the ground was nice and bright, much easier to see by. As he was switching to more destructive arrows Dev appeared beside him. "You're still up here?" Tyler asked seeing the forms of the ones that could fight down on the ground.

"I'm more of a got-your-back kind of guy."

"How's your aim?"

Dev snatched up one of the guns from the box. Instantly he did what all birdbrains and flyboys had a tendency to do: make a game out of it. "I can shoot down ten bugs before you can even get two."

Tyler smiled sharply; though it wasn't the best time, he wasn't the kind of guy to turn down a challenge.

...---...

_Pyromaniac… _was the firs thing that came to Don's mind when he saw Nick jump outside and pulled the rigger on the flamethrower.

The hornets were indeed huge and held the effect of towering over prey while they hovered over the ground. The stingers were the size of traffic cones while the top two legs were so sharp they might as well have been attached spears.

The hornets, angered for whatever reason, attacked all those they got near. Nick refused to give the ones he got close to a chance. What came forward as a sharp point aiming to kill, crashed to the ground as a screeching fireball. Even when a body was down Nick continued to blast it with streams of flame, and he was smiling as he did it!

Across the grounds Mikey found himself being backed against the wall of tree trunks by five hornets that were slowly moving towards him.

_Why am I always the one that gets ganged up on? _he wondered to himself.

All five of the large insects reared back and moved as one to strike stinger first.

"Get down!"

Not sure whose voice it was, Mikey jumped to the ground when there was a not very loud gunshot.

Though it was unseen, a dart was shot from a specially made gun. The dart zoomed out and hit one of the hornets in the back. From the dart a liquid flowed out and entered the insect's bloodstream. After a few seconds, when the liquid was met with the oxygen cells a chemical reaction occurred ending with an explosion, causing hornet guts to fly. There were four more shots, four more explosions, and a very grossed out Michelangelo.

The wielder of the gun came forward. "Are you okay?"

Mikey got to his knees pulling slimy, chunky guts from his hair, gagging at the smell, feel, and knowing it was all over his back. "Nasty… uh- thanks Ra-?" He began to thank the guy but when he looked up expecting Razor by the voice he stopped mid-word when he found a different face. It was Razor but at the same time it wasn't. He had the same grey skin, black eyes, brown hair… but there were no scars and his bandana was blue.

He offered a webbed hand. "Heh, sorry about the guts."

Mikey took it and got to his feet when he saw a flash of movement in the corner of his eye. He shoved the off version of Razor as he jumped forward knocking both of them to the ground as a hornet stinger just barely missed them. Suddenly the hornet was knocked against the wall and fell to the ground with an ax sticking out of its head.

That had been the last enemy. Leo, Raph, Don, Razor, Bomber, Dev, Nick and Tyler had made quick work of the swarm of hornets. (Gorf had stayed in the tree house knowing he would just get in the way. He didn't like it when insects were almost as big as he was.)

Bodies littered the ground in the red light of the flickering flares.

"Sorry," Mikey said lightly helping the guy to his feet.

"It's better than meeting a stinger to the head," he said, brushing himself off. He looked worn out.

...---...

"No way…" Bomber muttered, dumbstruck when he realized who Mikey was with. He looked over at Razor who was too busy spitting fur out of his mouth to see anything. Dev dropped down beside him looking rather pleased with himself having shot down more hornets than Tyler. "Dev," Bomber said, quietly pointing. "Are you seeing what I'm seeing?"

Dev looked and froze. "Is that really…?"

Nick came forward, intrigued by the looks of unbelieving recognition on the guys' faces. "Hey Marker!" he called "Come 'ere, would ya!"

The figure standing with Mikey turned and started walking their way. After a few steps he stopped a moment to pick up a sack that he slung over his shoulder. "Nick," he said as he walked "I've told you to stop calling me that. It's _not_ my name."

Razor froze in his half bent down position. That voice, he knew that voice. Wiping his mouth, mentally vowing to never bite a hornet again, he straightened up not really knowing what to expect and stopped.

The walked figure stopped noticing Razor. They stood there unblinking, unbelieving.

It was so strange to those standing around them. If it wasn't for Razor's scars the two would have been exact replicas of each other - save for the bandana color and clothes.

Neither moved; do they dare believe what they see? After all these years?

Then, quietly, the silence was broken by two simple names. "Razor?"

"Sharp?"

* * *

You were probably expecting that but whatever.

Anyway, that was a lot of scene changes but I like how it finally came out, and I mean _finally!_ It took me about five tries to write this chapter, and no, that's not an exageration, I kept count! Why, I don't know but that's beside the point, but anywhere here ya go. And (though he donesn't really matter) we finally got to figure out whatever happened to Stripes! Loose teeth suck...

Well I gotta go and see how much homework I can get done in two hours flat so:

REVIEW!!! please? Anyone? some kind of feedback? critisism???.... anything...?


	22. Welcome to Boot Camp

**Chapter Twenty-One**

**Welcome to Boot Camp**

"Razor!"

"Sharp!"

As would be expected from any pair of long lost brothers, they ran for each other, colliding in a tight embrace.

"I thought I'd never see you again!" Sharp exclaimed.

"See me again, I thought they killed you!" Razor exclaimed back, digging his face into Sharp's shoulder. Though he had a right to start getting emotional he had to at least try and keep his cool, all the same he could feel the tears burn his eyes.

"They almost did," Sharp said quietly, suppressed memories of the day he had been separated from Razor springing up. It happened so long ago but he could still remember it all as if it had just happened. He could remember him and Razor arguing with Dev and Terry about if aquatic or airborne creatures were more prepared when it came to disaster. The topic had turned to the world ending in a great flood when a bright light had blinded them all. Unable to see he had felt big hands grab his shoulders and he was pulled off the floor. Reflex more than anything was what made him reach out and grab Razor's arm. The struggling had lasted long enough for everyone to regain their sight but it was no use. No one moved to help besides Psych, but he was too small. Razor was knocked out with a blow to the head from the butt of a gun. It was horrifying to see his brother's body just sprawled there on the floor but he didn't have to watch long. He was carried literally kicking and screaming out the door, his green bandana slipping off his head in the process. Out in the hallways he had thrashed and snapped at anything within reach until he saw a flash of movement, a bright light and then nothing. After that he remembered waking up to being strapped down to a really cold table with hundreds of tests waiting to be conducted.

"Oh I remember," Don said snapping his fingers "Sharp, Razor's twin."

Mikey walked up to his brothers. "Aw, together again, doesn't it make you feel all fuzzy inside?" he asked, leaning towards Raph, still covered in bug guts.

Raph stepped away with a grimace. "Touch me and ya die." Mikey ignored the comment and hugged Raph in the moment. "Gross, Mike got off a me!"

"Twin?" Nick asked, figuring he was gonna need another talk with Tyler. "Marker, why'd you never mention anything like this before?"

"It… hurt too much to bring up," Sharp said quietly.

Razor took a step back and held his brother at arms length, seeing a sight he could only get in dreams and used to be able to get in mirrors. Part of him still couldn't believe it. "Man, you haven't changed at all."

Sharp gently ran a hand across Razor's cheek, feeling the scars. "But you have, what happened to you?"

"The scientists," Razor said pulling the hand from his face. "They weren't very fond of rebellious attitudes and… attempted escapes. But its okay, what's done is done."

"God Razor… I…" Sharp shook his head "I can't believe you're here." Suddenly something clicked in his mind and he grabbed Razor's shoulders. "You're here! Why are you _here_?"

Razor took a step back in confusion. "What do you mean? Why can't we be here?"

While Sharp grew a troubled look the flares behind him started to sputter out, their job done. The grounds started to become dark, night falling down like a thick blanket.

"I'll explain inside," Sharp said moving towards the lift. "Come on."

"Ah," Nick stopped Mikey pushing back on his chest. "Sorry we got a policy against guts upstairs. _You _are going to the bath hut."

"Wha-?"

"_Now!_" Nick cut Mike off and pulled him by the front of the shirt between the trees.

Leo watched them go, not entirely sure if Nick was trustworthy. It seemed like it but sometimes it was better to go with the second impression rather than the first. Watching the darkness for a second longer he stepped onto the lift as it started going up.

In the tree house the explanation was shortly postponed when Sharp found out who else was on the island.

"Sharp?!" There was a green blur and the blue bandana wearing boy was knocked into the wall with arms squeezing the air out of him.

"Eg- G-Gorf?"

Gorf happily squeezed harder. "You remember me!"

"How could I- forget? Uh- Gorf?"

"Yes?"

"I can't- breathe."

"Oh, sorry."

Sharp rubbed his stomach after Gorf let go when a body suddenly appeared in his arms, hugging his neck.

"Sharpy!" Jack exclaimed happily.

"Jack? Where've you been?" Sharp asked giving the small teleporter a friendly squeeze.

"He's been with us," Razor said.

Sharp seemed to freeze at the statement. "…what?"

"I think we could all use some explaining," Splinter said seeing the two almost-identical twins.

_Agreed_, Psych nodded from the wheelchair.

"You're telling me…" Sharp muttered. He had wanted to go straight to bed when he got away from the hornets but that was before he met his brother for the first time in almost twenty years, found Jack, actually took in the fact that there were human-like turtles and rat now mixed in with the tree house inhabitants, was hearing a vaguely familiar voice in his head while he couldn't believe he was looking at Psych with a splinted leg… _Yeah, _he thought, _bed can wait._

Proper introductions were made for those that needed them before everything was laid out on the table and everyone settled into a seat in something that resembled a circle. The group from New York told their story from Alex escaping the Labs for the first time, to the ninja turtles being roped into the experiments' lives, to finally escaping the scientists for good - or so they thought. Leo and Raph recalled meeting Jack for the first time and Razor finally figured out why Jack always gave him funny looks and was so attached to him: Jack had confused him with Sharp; the little kid looked so comfortable in the grey, unscarred arms. During the explaining Mikey walked in with Nick dressed in an old black and green army uniform.

"It's the only extra clean clothes we got that'll fit," Nick had vaguely explained with a shrug.

The story was finally wrapped up with the telling of the plane crash onto the island.

"I'm never getting on another plane with you behind the wheel again," Bomber directed at Dev.

"Hey, if it wasn't for me you'd be at the bottom of the Pacific," Dev defended his skill of flying machines. "And what else could I do? The wheel was locked from turning, and even if I could turn it the bomb would have kept the plane from getting back to America, that is _if _we had enough fuel in the first place. That plane was destined to crash no matter what I did."

"No one's blaming you for the crash," Leo said.

"Still," Dev said with crossed arms. Someone created for the sky wasn't supposed to crash, it just wasn't right, it wasn't natural. "It was luck that this place was here when we were going down."

"Not necessarily," Sharp said.

"What do you mean?" Dev asked.

"This place, it's an extended branch of the Labs."

"What?!" several voices exclaimed with mixed emotions of surprise and anger.

Sharp nodded glumly. "Under the volcano is a small city of laboratories. Out here, in the middle of nowhere, they're making more…" he hugged jack from behind, the boy sitting in his lap "_exotic_ experiments, ones that are meant mostly for the field, not the general public."

"So why are you here?" Razor asked.

"At first I honestly had no idea," Sharp admitted "I think the scientists from here and New York were arguing when they couldn't get the healing agent I was first taken for to work successfully, the scientist here said they could do a better job so the New York Labs gave them the research, and of course they had to ship the guinea pig with it. In fact, I _was _half of the research. I think they were more surprised than anything that I wasn't dead yet. Anyway, after a couple days I did what Alex did: I left. I couldn't stand it anymore. We all know that the Labs are nightmares come true but that doesn't mean you have to live through it if there's a chance for escape. And in all truth, it wasn't that hard, their security wasn't all that great."

"Doesn't matter how hard it is to get out," Nick said "you can't go anywhere from there."

"Why?" Gorf asked.

"I'm sure you've already noticed that the sky's red during the day," Nick guessed.

"Hard no to," Dev said.

"That redness is a force field that incases the entire island," Nick explained with a hint of scorn "even underwater. It lets everything in but nothing out."

"Its kind of a good thing," Skyler admitted "what with all the monsters roaming the place," she quickly pointed out with the cold looks she got from Nick and Tyler. "If those got to any of the mainlands total chaos would break out and it'd only get worse as the monsters reproduced, especially the aquatic creatures. Those would be able to travel fastest; no one wants to see that."

"Yeah but what about us?" Tyler snapped. "Look at us: picking off the scraps of crashed ships when we could easily just build one ourselves and sail right out of here if we could. We're hiding in trees at night because we're too scared of what could be out there, leading pointless lives that'll end in a death no one'll care for."

"That's not true!" Skyler argued.

"Oh yeah? No one even knows we exist except for us, and those bastards out there," he vaguely indicated the volcano outside with a sweep of his arm "couldn't care less if we died. Why do you think they made those monsters in the first place, to create some type of ecosystem?"

"What about Marco and Ruth!" Skyler burst out so suddenly and loudly that it made Jack jump, reappearing in Razor's lap. "I guess you're saying their lives were pointless too!"

Sharp got to his feet to end the feud. "Both of you stop it!" he called over them with a sense of authority. "Skyler: calm down and Tyler: drop the subject. That's in the past; there was nothing we could do at the time. You both know that."

Tyler crossed his arms unhappily. Skyler looked slightly embarrassed at her loss of control, though there was a lingering look that told she wasn't done with the subject just yet. On the other side of the group Nick's cat ears were flattened uncomfortably at the memories.

"Who's… Marco and Ruth?" Don slowly asked.

"None of your business," Tyler mumbled hotly.

Sharp sat back down with a huff, soon after Jack reappeared in his lap.

Mikey shifted uncomfortably, for a moment there Tyler and Skyler had sounded just like Raph and Leo when they were arguing. It wasn't going to be much fun with two sets of Raphs and Leos going around, an argument over this and that ready to spring forward at any given moment.

An unhappy silence fell. A couple years later Tyler finally stood up, brushed the dirt that ceased to collect in tree houses from his pants and moved across the room. "I'm going to bed." At the doorway he stopped a moment, one hand holding back the long animal pelt that acted as the door. "Oh, by the way" he said over his shoulder "welcome to boot camp." With that we walked out of sight, the pelt swinging back and forth until it settled. A short while later a splash was heard from the lake.

"Boot camp?" Leo repeated.

"What else do you want to call it?" Nick asked. "Freedom in a cage? This is the life long survival training where your commanders have sharp claws and lots of bloodlust, though we do happen to get some… forced donations from the generals."

"Forced? What like _stealing_?" Dev asked.

"No, its surviving," Skyler corrected.

"It's so stealing," Nick said with a small smile. "Ya see Marker here-"

"My name's not Marker," Sharp told him for possibly the five thousandth time that year alone.

"How do you get 'Marker' out of Sharp anyway?" Don asked.

"Simple," Nick shrugged "see there's Sharp, then Jack started calling him 'Sharpy', change the 'y' to an 'ie' and you have the world 'Sharpie', which, if I'm not mistaken, is a brand name for a marker. Ain't that right _Marker_?"

Sharp glared at him for a second before rolling his eyes. "Anyway, yes I do somewhat steal from the scientists. There're only so many recourses you can get out in a jungle and some things you just need that don't grow on trees; like medicine. So, a few times a year I take a bag, sneak back into the Labs under the volcano and snag what I can get. Which reminds me: I forgot the bag outside."

"I got it," Nick said and stood up, heading for the lift.

"Stay away from the weapons!" Sharp called after him.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah…" Nick waved him off as the shadows of the hall swallowed him, the sound of the lift starting up quickly following.

Sharp shook his head. "So yeah, I admit that I steal but it's not like they give us much choice. We're stranded out here with only what we can make by hand. No stores, no food that'll just appear before you, no electricity - which I'm not exactly complaining about - sometimes a guy just has to do what he does to survive, and take care of the ones around him."

_Speaking of which, _Psych said _what are you all doing out here? Did you run your own little rebellion and escape party?_

"Actually, as much as I'd like to say it, no, not exactly. You see there are plenty of experiments in those Labs but I can't get through to them. I managed to talk to a few of them a few times but they're too scared of what might happen. Their minds are full of nightmares and fears of the consequences. They… they think they're safe in their position and refuse to leave."

"So what's the deal with Nick, Tyler, Skyler and Jack?" Raph asked.

Sharp sighed. "You see, I can't convince the ones that have already lived with the scientists, so I've tried to prevent anymore fear filled minds and…" he glanced at Razor "scarred bodies. I go to the very beginning, sneak into the DNA fusion sectors where experiments are just being developed, and… well… on each vat, where an organism is growing there's like this… mini touch screen that shows vital signs and such. Off to the side of the screen there's a button that allows the deletion of an experiment if something goes wrong in development, and… I…" Even though Jack always used the big shark-boy as a living security blanket Sharp always thought it was comforting to just have something warm to hold in his arms.

_You kill them _Psych quietly put it simply.

Sharp just looked at the floor.

"How could you do that?" Raph asked. "To take a life that hasn't even started yet?"

"Why give them a life they'll hate?" Sharp asked back.

"How do you know? What lets you choose for them?"

"Because we all do! You woulnd't understand, how could you, born into a family, free from harm, protected until you can defend yourself. What gives you the right to all that? Why you, why do you get everything we dream of from the beginning?" Sharp asked almost jealously.

"You think our life's been easy?" Raph snapped.

"Raphael," Master Splinter verbally held his son back. "Be grateful with what you have been given, everyone has their challenges and decisions in life."

Raph crossed his arms with a huff. "Yes Sensei…" he grumbled.

The second uneasy silence of the night fell, quickly broken by the sound of the lift starting up. Nick soon walked in with a sack slung over his shoulder. Oblivious to the reason behind the quiet he dropped the sack and started pawing through it. Clinks and muffled clangs came from the bag as the contents shifted around.

After a few moment's growing disappointment Nick's face split with a huge smile. He jumped from the bag gripping a tin jar in his hands. Licking his lips he zoomed off in search of his favorite spoon, the phrase "Sharp I love you!" echoing through the trees.

"What's he so happy for?" Mikey asked.

"He probably found a jar of peanut butter," Skyler rolled her eyes.

"Peanut butter?" Don repeated, not sure if he heard right.

Skyler nodded. "Guy's addicted to the stuff, though he has yet to figure out why's he's always constipated."

Mikey covered his ears shaking his head. "Dude, TMI!"

Jack yawned and rubbed an eye with his fist. Sharp quietly whispered something in his ear. Jack shook his head. Sharp said something else. Tiredly Jack stood up. With another yawn he disappeared, heading for where he remembered his bed to be.

Gorf held back a yawn. "I'm kind a tired too."

Sharp got to his feet and moved to pick the sack up, ending the catch-up session. "Its getting late, Skyler can show you guys the extra rooms with made beds. I'm gonna go put this stuff up. Psych, I'm sorry but the bridges aren't safe enough for the wheelchair to cross. Someone can carry you or you can bunk down here. You guys need anything just ask." He headed for one of the doors out of the room, but stopped like he had one last thought on his mind. After a moment of mental argument with himself he turned around. "And Raph," he said "for the record, when I delete could-be experiments I do it before they fully develop. Technically they're not alive yet and they can't feel a thing, but I always hesitate. If they wake up for the first time while I'm there they come here, that's how Nick and Tyler got here, along with Skyler, Marco and Ruth. I almost had Jack the first time but the alarms went off, but I had to go back for him and he remembered me. So yes, I'm a killer but I choose to be to keep others from going through what we have. You're right, no one gave me the right to take life, but no one gave the scientists the right to create life either."

...---... ...---... ...---... ...---... ...---... ...---... ...---...

If there was one thing that Ambrose Luben enjoyed more than being the one in control of everything it was a good cup of coffee. He discovered the miracle of the drink during the long hours of rewriting data and notes from memory and rebuilding what had once been his secret glory. But not even coffee could get him in the mood for what he was about to do: talk to the head of the Pacific Labs.

With a huff he sat down in front of his great computer, coffee in hand, and opened the communication link. A window opened up on the screen with the sight of the back of a hi-back chair.

"Ach-hm," Ambrose cleared his throat.

No response.

"Ach-_hm_…"

Still nothing.

Times like this made Ambrose wish he could invent a way to just reach into computer screens and bop the idiot that he _knew _was sitting in that chair, probably sucking on a sucker like a child. But since it was physically impossible to forcefully make his presence known he had to fall back on simply yelling "_George!_"

The chair on the screen slowly turned around to show a man around the same age as the New York head scientist, though, thankfully, that was where the similarities ended, for this scientist had a shock of red hair and wasn't one to wear the classic lab coat while the short, white stick of a sucker stuck out of his mouth. In all truth he looked like a pathetic community college student, he couldn't even sit in a chair correctly; leaning in the corner with a leg hanging over the armrest.

"Cuz!" the supposed head scientist exclaimed, the sucker almost falling out of his mouth but he caught it before it hit his grubby T-shirt. "Haven't heard from you in a while, need any more of _my _notes? How 'bout a few tips? You know maybe we can make a trade, we could use some new equipment this way, ours has a tendency to… ach-hm- disappear."

"That's _not_ why I called," Ambrose corrected sharply. "I am simply making sure that a certain… package made it to your doorstep."

"You mean that plane that you so kindly sent to tear up my trees and give unnatural resources to my little band of AWOLs?" George asked with just the slightest hint of annoyance in his voice. "Yes, I did, and just as you predicted they were nowhere to be found when my bots scouted the area."

Ambrose smiled. "Perfect."

George took the sucker out of his mouth and examined the shiny, hardened, purple ball of sugar at the end. "Okay, just between us, cousin-to-cousin-"

"Listen George," Ambrose sharply interrupted him. "I've told you this thousands of times already, but I'll say it again: I don't care if your father was my mother's brother, I am not, by all means – physically, genetically, distantly, or even metaphorically -, related to you."

George put his hands up. "Fine, fine, whatever you say. Anyway, as I was saying what could you possibly be planning by giving more numbers to the resistant force on my island?"

"That is for me to know," Ambrose said.

"Ah yes," George nodded. "Mr. I-must-be-in-control-of-everything-and-tell-no-one-my-plans-until-it-is-profitable-to-me, man Ambrose, did you have _any _friends growing up? Ever?"

"My childhood is my business," Ambrose snapped and huffed trying to get him temper under control. "Now," he said "I'm done here, try not to have any mishaps between now and next time."

George gave a mock salute, popping the sucker back into his mouth. When the link turned off George spun his chair back around to face his workstation. Pulling his leg off the armrest to sit up right he leaned over the metal desk.

The only thing on his workstation was a small potted plant: the sapling of an oak.

From the drawers underneath the surface of the desk he put on a work glove and slowly moved his hand towards the fragile looking stem and leaves. With his index finger he gingerly stroked one of the leaves… nothing.

"Hm," he huffed in small disappointment. Leaving his hand on the desk he slightly turned away in thought. The formula had seemed perfect, had there been a mistake in creating the gene? _No, no, no, I created the gene myself; there was nothing wrong in the making. Maybe oak just isn't the best choice of trees-_

"Hey!" he exclaimed when something closed in on his gloved finger. Looking at the desk he saw the leaves of the sapling wrapped around the protected digit, the plant jerking as if trying to suck a liquid out. "Heh," George chuckled in amusement as he jerked his hand away. The sapling slowly straightened itself to look as if it had never moved. "Why hello there little guy, ya hungry?" George asked taking the glove off. From his jeans pocket he pulled out a pocket knife and pricked his finger. As the blood welled up into a bead on the small cut he reached his hand out over the plant and squeezed the finger until a single drop fell onto a leaf.

At first there was no reaction, but as the scientist watched in expectancy he witnessed the blood be sucked into the leaf and could see a slight tint of red among the green as the trace of blood was quickly moved towards the stem. The plant shivered at its first taste of liquid life and suddenly grew in a short growth spurt.

In wonder George put two more drops of blood onto the plant's leaf and the same thing happened. After only three drops of blood the baby tree had grown nearly three times its size. At the moment it didn't seem that large but at that rate of growth the tree would be close to adulthood in little over twenty-four hours, even faster if it was in the forest where blood was in high supply.

A smile pulled at George's mouth as he sucked on his finger. Pulling a phone from his other pocket he pushed speed dial 6 and put the speaker to his ear. The call was answered after the first ring.

"Sir."

"We have a complete success, soak the seeds; I want them halfway grown by morning."

"And what would your exact definition be by 'halfway', sir?"

"Oh, I don't know…" George pulled the sucker out of his mouth and examined what was left of the sweet. "Let's say big enough to swallow… approximately a five foot, humanoid turtle."

"Sir, yes, sir."

* * *

Uh-oh, if you've ever heard of "The Little Shop of Horrors" you might have a slight idea of what's coming...  
And I wonder who Marco and Ruth could possibly be...  
And is Sharp a murderer or simply sympahthetic to the 'unborn' expirements?

Man, a lot of stuff has happened in only 24 hours huh?

Meh, I need to be getting to bed, have school in the morning... XP


	23. Poison Problems

**Chapter Twenty-Two**

**Poison Problems**

This time Skyler feared she had met her match. She could strap down a panther to remove an arrow from an embarrassing location, pull a tooth from the mouth of a shark, had taken control numerous times when the same panther decided to have a wrestling match with a piranha… but this time…

"Just a few bites."

Alex shook her head, mouth pressed shut.

Skyler held the stone plate on the edge of the cot and inched the toast closer. It was the easiest food they had for the stomach to handle, she would have used soup but they ran out of that last time Sharp was sick.

Alex stubbornly pulled blanket up to her nose. "I'll just throw it back up."

Skyler put her hands on her hips. She couldn't force feed this patient. _Well, maybe…_

"Troubles in the hospital?" a familiar voice asked.

Alex tried to look at the door but it still hurt her head. "R… Razor?"

"Not exactly," Sharp came forward and knelt down to her eye level.

"Sharp?" Alex asked, struggling to prop herself up on an elbow. "Are you… real? You're… you're supposed to be… dead," she rasped through her sore throat.

"Yeah, I got the same from Razor," Sharp nodded "but are you real; the stubborn, mighty rebel Alex bedridden? And so far from New York too."

Alex dropped down to the sack of real bird feathers used as a pillow. "It's been twenty years" she shrugged weakly "shit happens."

"More like nineteen years, four months, two weeks, five days, nine hours and some odd minutes, but who's counting?" It was Sharp's turn to shrug and got a queasy – but amused – smile from Alex. "I still can't believe it though. I had already given up hope that I'd ever see you guys again, and yet here you are. Quite a bit has changed over the years, though none of us are a centimeter taller."

Alex closed her eyes, the smile still lingering, at a memory from that lifetime so long ago. "You and Razor… always were fighting over who… was taller."

Sharp smiled too. Back then they were just trying to do something to keep life interesting. In the back of their minds they knew they were exactly the same height. They had been exactly the same everything, except for maybe a few differences in personality. That was the reason they had wore different colored bandanas; so people else could tell them apart. "Yeah," he sighed at the memories. "Seems so long ago, huh?"

Silence.

"Alex?" He looked at the girl to see she had slipped from consciousness. With a small smirk he straightened up and patted Skyler's shoulder as he turned for the door. "Come on, you can force feed her in the morning."

With a sigh Skyler picked up the plate and followed Sharp out of the small building, blowing out the candle that had been lighting the room on the way.

...---... ...---... ...---... ...---... ...---... ...---... ...---...

Hours later it was a bright sunny morning underneath the red sky. The wind was nothing but a breeze, the air was warm, the monsters that inhabited the night had crawled back into their holes. The air was filled with birdsong and the smell of breakfast wafted through the leaves. It was this smell that had a certain boy floating out of the bed and out the door with an eager stomach.

Outside Michelangelo found the tree houses to look different in the sunlight, everything slightly tinted green with the light filtering through the leaves overhead and around him.

The room that had been given to him was actually a small half-circle building that hugged the trunk of an old tree. A small ladder led down to a bridge that extended forward about fifty feet before connecting to eleven other bridges, each meeting at a large circular platform that was suspended a good hundred feet in the air. Ten of the bridges led to other tree houses where his family and friends were staying, the eleventh bridge led through a hollowed out ancient tree and to the rest of the tree houses.

Following his nose he took the eleventh bridge and found himself at a hut sitting on a type of deck that overlooked the lake. Large ropes hung from overhead branches at the end of the deck that could be used for swinging out to jump in the clear water.

Sidetracked by the view, he went to the edge of the deck and looked out. Directly on the opposite side of the lake was a waterfall. In front of the falls was a small island sticking up out of the water, on that island was what looked like two white crosses.

A hand stole his attention when it clasped his shoulder.

"You're up early."

"Hey Don," Mike said. "Man, I know I shouldn't by the way we got here, but I feel like we're on vacation. This is nothing like the city. Heck, its nothing like the farm."

"Feeling homesick?" Don asked.

"Nah," Mikey shook his head. "Not yet, remember when we were little? Dreaming of getting out of the city, see what's out there?"

Don smiled. "You'll miss the city lights, the sound of the subway, the miles of tunnels... give it a couple days."

"Yeah, probably," Mikey nodded with a small laugh.

The two brothers stood there a moment in the calmness of the forest morning – such a contrast from the hustle and bustle of the concrete jungle.

After a short while Don noticed the crosses. He pointed to them. "Are those graves?"

Mikey shrugged when his stomach growled reminding him exactly why he had gotten up in the first place. "I'm hungry."

"You're always hungry."

"Am not," Mikey disagreed and continued his walk to find food. "Now let's go find the kitchen – or whatever they got here."

Don followed, taking his time so he could examine and appreciate the workmanship of the structures around them. The bridges they walked on were nothing but rope and wood yet they barely swayed, or even creaked. The pulley systems created to work the lifts in replace of elevators, the secure buildings formed on and around the branches of the trees. It almost reminded him of the movies where entire civilizations are created inside nature.

The turtle of science and technology only had one question: Who build all this? He remembered Skyler mentioning a Jeff who had started it all, and then Sharp helping, but could two guys really do all this by themselves with limited tools? _And, _he thought, _where is Jeff? __If those crosses on that island were graves… but… there were only two, which could explain Marco and Ruth… _It seemed that there were more questions about this island than just how to get off of it.

While his brother had questions bouncing through his head, Mikey had followed his nose to a building close to the ground. A type of gangplank led down to an open doorway that had the bangs of pots and pans, the sizzling of cooking food, and the smell f breakfast wafting out into the open. Smoke curled up into the leaves from a sprout in the roof that acted as a chimney.

Practically jumping down the gangplank, Mikey went to the doorway and looked in to find a loud scene.

"Heads up!"

"Got it!"

"We've talked about airborne eggshells!"

"_Hey_, hash browns coming through."

"Gross, potatoes are disgusting."

"Are not."

"You're eating a root!"

"And you eat fish eyes, now that's disgusting."

"He's got ya there, Tyler."

"Better than eating what spends most of its life in the dirt."

"Well you wash it first!"

"Omelet up and over!"

"_Nick!_"

Mikey leapt forward, grabbing an empty plate from a table sitting in the middle of the room and caught the flying egg before it hit the floor.

"Hey, nice catch," Nick complemented as he stood before a wood burning stove made from steel, spatula in hand, apron around his waist. Skyler walked over from a bowl of fruit and smacked him with a wooden spoon. "OW!" Nick exclaimed holding his knuckles.

"Stop throwing food," Skyler scolded "it's wasteful if you miss your mark and it hits the floor."

Sharp looked up from putting a sack of potatoes back in one of the cabinets that lined the walls. "Mornin'," he greeted brightly. "Welcome to the kitchen of chaos."

Tyler shouldered Nick to the side to get the stove. "If you guys would just let _me_ cook."

Nick shoved back. "Then all we'd ever eat is fried fish - _burned _fried fish."

"All you ever make is eggs," Tyler complained as they started fighting for right of the cooking fire.

Skyler huffed at them and grabbed one of the peculiar purple fruit from the fruit bowl. Taking a knife she cut the bulbs apart and tossed two of them to the boys, keeping the third for herself. "Stop fighting and eat."

Sharp shook his head at them. "I was about to come and get you guys," he told Don and Mike. "Figured you'd be hungry."

"Yes," Mike answered simply.

"We should be done with most of the cooking," he nodded towards the table "you guys can go ahead and get started; I'll go see if anyone else is up."

Don stepped to the side to let Sharp leave the room. "You might want to be careful with Raph," he advised "he's not much of a morning person."

"Thanks, I'll keep that in mind," Sharp said as he moved up the gangplank.

Skyler, Nick and Tyler started putting plates made of smoothed stone on the table, each one holding different foods for the morning meal. There were scrambled eggs, fried fish, hash browns, slices of toast, an assortment of fruits, there was a jug marked 'drinking water' among wooden cups, also on the table was the tin can from the other night with the name 'NICK' written in bold letters across the lid along with beaten jars filled with jams. Skyler took a box from one of the counters and put it on the table, opening the lid to reveal metal silverware.

Mikey sat down on one of the chairs that were placed around the table along with some stools that were probably taken from the main tree house. Don sat down beside him.

Nick reached across the table and pulled his omelet over to his seat. Next he happily grabbed his can of peanut butter and the plate of toast before sitting down, taking a knife from the silverware box.

"Hey," Skyler said, noticing metal glinting underneath the table. "No weapons at the table."

Nick rolled his eyes and pulled his ax from the loop on his pants. Gripping the handle he gently flicked it back and forth before expertly throwing it across the room where it sank into the wall beside the doorway with a dull _thunk_. Numerous other marks covered the wall from previous blades being thrown.

A startled Stripes jumped to the side, having walked into the room just as the ax hit the wall.

Nick received a smack to the back of the head with a wooden spoon for his feat.

"Ow! Stop it!"

"You're not the only one here," Skyler scolded, shaking the spoon at him. "You can't be throwing things around, especially sharp blades."

"Does that mean Tyler's not allowed at the table?" Nick asked with a smirk. "His mouth is nothing but knives."

Tyler stuck his tongue out at Nick only to flinch and slap a hand over his mouth. "Ah! I bit my tongue!" he whimpered through his hand.

Nick laughed at him before crunching down on his toast.

Shaking her head Skyler sat down.

The breakfast wasn't exactly a feast but it was all edible and the air in the room was light and comfortable. Mikey had quickly made himself at home while Nick stayed protective of his peanut butter. It was awkward for Don at first but he gradually slipped into the mood of the fresh morning, the new beginning.

After a few minutes the New Yorkers appeared coming down the gangplank, Bomber carrying Psych. Skyler welcomed them and offered seats. Nick pulled his peanut butter closer to his plate while Tyler quickly grabbed the last of his favorite fried fish.

Sharp was the last to appear, jumping the last half of the gangplank and stopping by purposely ramming the frame of the doorway. "Hey," he said after scanning over the faces. "Have you guys seen Razor?"

Head after head shook no in answer along with a few verbal responses.

Sharp's mouth thinned into a line. He didn't like suddenly losing track of his brother after just reuniting last night. He didn't have to remain frustrated for that reason for long, though, for Razor came into sight running down the gangplank and practically tripping in his hurry at the bottom.

"Dude, where's the fi-" Mikey started to ask but his voice died at the sight of red splatters on Razor's shirt and hands.

"What happened?!" both Leo and Sharp exclaimed.

Razor was out of breath but he managed to gasp "It's… Alex… she started… coughing up blood!" He turned and headed back up the gangplank. "Come on!" he exclaimed over his shoulder.

Sharp went after him followed by the others, except Psych who was briefly forgotten. Stuck sitting on the counter that Bomber had set him on, Psych fiddled with the end of his scarf reaching out for Alex's mind. It was pain filled, confused and even a little scared when he found it. Just feeling the thoughts made Psych want to back out of the thoughts, he hated feeling others' pain when he was in touch with their mind.

Looking at his scarf something finally clicked in his mind and he slapped a hand to the side of his head. Taking the scarf off he quickly looked around the part that he usually had wrapped around his neck until he found the hidden pocket and stuffed his hand into it. He yanked out the small glass vial and stared at it not believing his stupidity. How could he forget about the antidote that he had right on his person?!

Pounding his forehead with the flat of his palm he silently cursed his broken leg. With a groan that would have been a yell of frustration he called out to a mind that he went to by default. _Gorf!_

Outside on a bridge a couple trees away the frog-boy skidded to a stop to look around. "Psych?"

_I need you to take something from me, get back here… please._

...---... ...---... ...---... ...---... ...---... ...---... ...---...

In the infirmary hut it wasn't a very pretty sight. Alex was sitting up in the bed, the blankets thrown to the floor. The girl's shirt was splattered with red while she held a bloody bucket in her lap with one hand; the other hand was turned into its oversized claw form clutching her stomach, the material darkening around her fingers were the tips of the claws had punctured skin. Her head was down, forehead resting on the far side of the bucket with groans and whimpers coming from her throat.

Skyler, though smallest, was first in the room. "What happened?" he asked at seeing the blood on the bucket, Alex's hands and shirt, the bit that had splattered the cot and had dripped to the floor.

Coughing came in reply, followed by splashing. A visible shiver ran down Alex's spine.  
There went the t0ast that Skyler had practically pushed down her throat after a whole speech of the body needing something to eat before it starved.

The smell of mixed blood and vomit was horrible and made Alex gag between coughs. She groaned again and couldn't even move to look at the doorway, all her energy was going into not passing out.

Skyler came forward and felt Alex's forehead. "Fever's gotten worse," she muttered. "Any hotter and your brain's gonna melt."

"Wh… what's hap… 'appening ta me?" Alex almost pleaded from inside the bucket.

"My guess," Skyler said with a sympathetic frown "is that the poison is working much too fast for your body to handle. At this rate…" She glanced to the side at the doorway, at the worried and unsettled faces. "You… You'll be dead by the end of the day."

"…great."

There was a moment of unbelieving silence. Alex, their Alex, die? That couldn't be right, and by poison no less. No struggle possible, no major fight scene to be had. What kind of death was that? It wasn't honor filled, it wasn't memorable, it wasn't even fair. If anything a life like hers, like all of theirs, at least deserved a fair death, right?

Lucky for them a little bug eating friend of theirs was a fast runner.

Out of nowhere Gorf zoomed through the doorway, tripped and kissed the floor. From his hand a small glass bottle flew through the air and was destined to smash on the floorboards. Realizing his empty hand Gorf quickly pushed himself into a sloppy crouching position and hopped forward, tongue shooting out in the process. The vial was inches from the floor when it was caught by the frog's tongue wrapping around it.

Nearly out of breath, Gorf got into a sitting position and dropped the vial of antidote into his hand. He held it up in triumph. "I got it."

Don took the vial, recognizing it from their first real face-to-face encounter with Ambrose. "Gorf, where'd you get the antidote?"

"Psych had it."

Skyler took the vial from Don and examined the liquid inside. "This might do the trick if it really is an antidote, we'll have to inject it straight to the bloodstream but I used our last syringe to take samples when Tyler got that oozing rash."

"I wouldn't think so," Sharp said and went to one of the shelves. He grabbed what looked like a small briefcase. Upon opening it he showed off four neat rows of sterile syringes waiting to be used. "On my last trip to the volcano I stopped by the medical ward, figured we were running low on a few things."

With the antidote in hand Skyler picked up one of the syringes. "Well," she said "the worst that could happen is that this is just more poison, shall we take the chance?"

...---... ...---... ...---... ...---... ...---... ...---... ...---...

Still stuck sitting on the counter in the kitchen, Psych leaned back on his hands. He still couldn't believe that he had forgotten about the antidote, what kind of person was he? _Am I going senile?_

Closing his eyes he shook his head. _At_ _least everything was going to get better from here._ By lightly brushing through the thoughts of the minds on the other side of the tree house community he knew that Alex was being taken care of. It seemed that he had remembered just in time - if not just a little late.

With a nasal sigh he looked around the kitchen when he caught movement in the corner of his eye. Looking to the side he found nothing but a basket of fruit. Knowing that he had seen something he reached over and moved the basket. Something quickly scuttled behind a cup of general cooking utensils. With growing curiosity Psych repositioned himself on the counter and moved the cup to find a spider.

Out in the open the spider tried to run but Psych put his hand down to block its path. The spider tried to go a different direction but again Psych blocked its path with his hand.

_Hello there, _he said in his mind well aware of the fact that the arachnid couldn't hear him, and if it could there wasn't much of a chance it could understand him. _Where'd you come from?_

The spider was black making it easy to hide in the shadows. It didn't have very many clear features and couldn't be bigger than a quarter. It didn't look like any of the poisonous species. In fact it looked perfectly harmless, a little cute even.

Psych put his hand out, palm up, in front of the spider. At first the small creature didn't do anything, but then it jumped up and scuttled over his fingers to rest in the middle of his palm. Psych slowly lifted it up to his eye level. The spider didn't do anything; it just sat there seeming to stare at him.

Then, all of a sudden, it bit him.

Psych flinched at the sharp sting of being bitten and shook his hand. The spider flew through the air before landing on the floor and ran out of the room.

Holding his attacked hand, Psych inspected the area of damage. There was a small hole in the skin but he wasn't bleeding.

_What was that for? _he quietly wondered. _I'm not threatening… _Absentmindedly he started to rub the bite that started to itch.

...---... ...---... ...---... ...---... ...---... ...---... ...----...

Now that things were looking up, and the fact that Alex might actually live, the group that had gathered at the infirmary started to disperse.

Though most of the group had lost their appetites after seeing the sight of blood and catching the reek of blood mixed with puke, Michelangelo's stomach was not to be ignored until it was satisfied. So, instead of waiting to get back to the kitchen where the food had been left on the table he walked through the main tree house and noticed the leafy ceiling. There was so much fruit just hanging there, and he knew it was edible; Nick, Tyler and them were always eating the stuff. The fruit was easy to pick too, it came right off the branch when he reached up.

Looking over the purple fruit for a moment, remembering those lectures he used to get about sticking strange things in his mouth; Mikey shrugged and took a bite.

Unfortunately, unknowing to him, the fruit was loaded with poison just waiting to be swallowed.

* * *

  
Uh oh, poor Mikey...

Man, I finally got this chapter done, and I gotta say I'm not sure when I'll get the next chapter ready, I have to remember my original stories, I'm trying to actually get those done so I can one day be a writter, but the day of an actually published book is far off. Far far off.

Anyway, I'm gonna go becuase I never have anything to say when I'm writting these blasted notes, though I do have one last thing to ask: why isn't anyone reviewing? Come on, its healthy for a writter to get feedback, even if its anything. Anything at all. Come on, someone? Review? The button's right **there**!!!


	24. Version 20

**Chapter Twenty-Three**

**Version 2.0**

If there was one thing that Mikey had to admit it was the fact that this weird purple fruit, whatever it was called, was _sweet_. Only one bite and it tasted like he had stuck a handful of sugar cubes in his mouth. He had to wonder why he hadn't tried to eat one of the fruit before.

Behind him Sharp walked in from the bridges about to go to the lift with Alex's bloody bucket in his hands. He was going to go down to the river to wash it when he heard the _crunch _of something being bitten. Looking over at Mikey in small question he dropped the bucket at the sight of the purple fruit in the teen's hand with a bite missing from it.

Thinking it might already be too late Sharp jumped forward and grabbed Mikey by the back of the collar. He yanked backwards, causing Mike to stumble back, and pushed him into the wall. Before the teen could react in surprise Sharp grabbed Mikey's throat in all hopes of choking him.

Dropping the fruit Mikey grabbed Sharp's hand and tried to pry it off of him but Sharp just tightened his grip. It was at that moment that Mikey's brothers and father decided to walk in. Leo was the first to notice the scene.

"Hey!" he exclaimed. The family took a fighting stance in defense of the youngest.

Sharp put his free hand up. "Wait."

"Explain, now," Splinter ordered.

"Just hold on," Sharp said and turned to Mike. "Mikey, I'm going to let go," he said calmly "when I do I want you to spit out whatever's in your mouth. Okay?"

Mikey gave as much of a nod as he could under the circumstances.

Sharp eased up on his grip and let go. He took a step back as Mikey leaned over in a cough and massaged his neck, the bite of fruit falling to the floor all its own.

"Wh- wha- what was that for!" Mikey exclaimed.

"I'm sorry," Sharp said sincerely as he picked up the fruit from the ground "but you can't eat this."

"Why not?" Mikey asked.

"Because, it's poisonous."

"What?!" four voices yelled at the same time. The fifth voice had something else to say.

"Why were we not warned of this beforehand?" Splinter basically demanded.

"I thought you were," Sharp said truthfully when Nick and Tyler walked into the room. They took in the scene of Mikey rubbing his neck and Sharp holding a bitten into purple fruit. Sharp caught them standing there. His dirty look told all.

"Uh- uh- um…" Nick stammered. "C-coming Skyler!" he exclaimed and the two turned to run back the way they had come.

"_Stop_!" Sharp yelled angrily. The one word made Nick and Tyler freeze in their tracks. They guiltily turned back around, Tyler looking at the floor and Nick playing with the tip of his tail. "Guys," Sharp started in a low voice. "What have I told you about new people and this fruit?"

Nick and Tyler looked at each other. "We though it was Skyler's job."

Sharp put a hand to his forehead.

"Wait a minute," Don said, looking up at the branches that made up the ceiling. "If it is poisonous as you say then why do you have it growing out of the ceiling? And we've seen Nick, Tyler and Skyler eat plenty of the stuff without any side effects."

"That's because they're already poisoned," Sharp said "and so am I."

"But you guys look fine," Leo said.

"You see… its weird really," Sharp struggled to explain. "The fruit is both the poison and the closest thing to an antidote we have. We're alive because we keep eating it. And the side effects happen for forty-eight hours once a month. Tyler's left eye for instance, see how the surrounding skin is purple? Once a month that eye goes blind. You can't see it because of the fur, but we've guessed that Nick's ears are purple too because he becomes deaf. Both of Skyler's legs are just the same and they go numb, that's why we have the wheelchair. And as for me…" He partly lifted up his shirt to reveal a dark purple stomach. "My gut becomes extremely picky and I have trouble keeping things down."

"How'd this happen?" Leo asked.

"That… would be my fault," Nick admitted, stepping forward. "I had been living here a couple weeks already. When I first got here Jeff had told me, like he had told all of us, not to touch the fruit, ever. Well, I got curious and a bit rebellious. I thought he was being greedy so I tried a few bites myself. The thing with that stuff is that the first few bites are like the sweetest thing you've ever tasted, it's hard to resist. I had to share my findings so I got everyone else, even Sharp to try a few. Then a few bites turned into a couple branches full. We liked the stuff so much that we swore that was the only thing we'd ever eat again. Well the next morning the taste of the fruit had changed, it was disgusting. All of us refused to eat anymore. That was when Jeff found us. He was pissed and explained to us that the fruit contained poison, and that now that we had started eating we had to continue, if we didn't it would be the end of us." He scratched behind a flattened ear uncomfortably. "At that time we still had Marco and Ruth. Skyler called them Marco the stubborn and Ruth the ruthless. Anyway they didn't believe Jeff and even if they did they had decided to take their chances… rather than willingly stomach the fruit. It… it only took three days. On the forth morning…" He shook his head covering his face with his hands. "They… they wouldn't wake up…"

Tyler looked at him with a heavy hearted frown. He lifted a hand to touch Nick's shoulder but Nick smacked it away and ran out the door. Tyler looked at the group in the room almost accusingly before following Nick.

Sharp sighed. "He still blames himself…" He shook his head to shoo away memories. "Anyway," he said quietly. "As to why we have poison growing from the ceiling: Jeff ate it first and he needed an easy to get to supplies so he planted this tree. That was a long time ago, obviously, long before I got here."

"Who is this Jeff-guy anyway?" Raph asked the question that had been bugging plenty of minds. "And where is he?"

Sharp took the fruit that Mikey had tried, snapped off the bitten into bulb and took a bite from the rest as he thought how to explain. "Jeff's… a bit of a caretaker really, and he's shy to new people - though he'll never admit it. He's the kind to know someone before they know him. You probably won't meet him until you've been around a while." He turned to Mikey. "And again, I'm sorry for choking you but you have to admit a few seconds of choking is a hell of a lot better than a lifetime stuck eating these" he indicated the fruit "or a slow death."

...---... ...---... ...---... ...---... ...---... ...---... ...---...

If there was one thing that Gorf could call himself it was loyal - at least he had always seen himself as loyal. This was the reason that Gorf had been the first one to head back to the kitchen after the fiasco with Alex had been dealt with.

Upon walking into the kitchen his first impression was that someone had already been there because Psych was no longer on the counter where he had been left sitting. It could have been Bomber; the guy just seemed to need someone to take care of and since Eli's whereabouts were unknown… But that idea was shot down when Gorf heard a soft groan.

Through curiosity Gorf went father into the room and had a near panic attack. There, sprawled on the floor, was the beloved ancient five-year-old.

Gorf dropped to his knees and pulled the body into his arms. "Psych? Psych, speak to me, what happened?"

The body didn't move.

"Psych! Psych please, say something!"

There was another soft groan. Psych barely opened his eyes only to close them again. _G… Gorf?_

Gorf smiled with relief. "Psych, don't do that to me, I'm too young to be having heart attacks, we've already had one near death experience I don't need to stand by another one!"

_Right… sorry…_

"What happened?"

Psych weakly lifted his hand and dropped it back down. _Got bit by a spider… I think I fell…_

"You _think_ you fell."

_Well something happened. _Psych groaned again. _I don't feel so good…_

"Well yeah," Gorf said. "You fell off the counter, must be a four foot drop - that's a lot for you."

Psych shook his head. _No… I've fallen before… this is different._

Gorf cocked his head. "Wait, you said you were bit by a spider, right?"

_Yeah, it kind of itches…_

"Lemme see," Gorf said. Psych lifted his hand for Gorf to take. Carefully, the technician looked over the small hand to find a bump near the middle of the palm. The bite had started to turn red. "What'd the spider look like?"

Psych blinked a few times in sluggish recollection. _It was… small… black… tame…_

"Tame?"

Psych nodded. _Uh-huh… jumped… right into my hand. Then… bit me and… ran off._

A thought passed through Gorf's mind that sent a worried shiver down his spine.

_No… it didn't look venomous. But…_

"But?"

_Itchiness… redness… unsettled stomach… sound familiar?_

"Wha…?" Gorf started, trying to make the connection. As he thought an image of Alex arguing with Doc back in the old Labs came to mind. After a moment it dawned on him. "No, no, no! Psych come on, no, tha- that's not it, it- it can't be." He hugged the frail body. "Don't change."

Psych patted Gorf on the back. _Gorf, listen to me. We both know what could happen now; I want you to get out of here._

"No."

_**Yes**__, after thirty minutes tell the others what we think and bring them here. If I'm gone… we'll know for sure._

Gorf refused to move.

_That's an order._

Gorf pressed his mouth into a reluctant line. He gave the body in his arms a final squeeze before he propped the little boy against the cupboards and straightened up.

From the floor Psych watched Gorf walk uneasily out of the room. Halfway up the gangplank he looked over his shoulder. Psych waved and gestured for him to continue on his way. With an unhappy sigh Gorf walked on and disappeared from sight.

Alone, Psych closed his eyes and tried to relax. He truthfully hoped that what he thought wasn't true, but in the back of his mind he knew that this would have happened sooner or later. All he could do now was hope beyond anything that he would be able to keep his sanity - and if he couldn't then he hoped his brain would meltdown rather than continue living and do harm to those that had learned to trust him with their very lives.

Seconds turned into minutes as he waited for it to start. The minutes slowly passed as he calmly waited… and waited… and waited. It wasn't that hard to wait, he had been waiting for things to happen all his life. Being the very first successful one, his entire existence had been a waiting game.

It was sudden like a bomb going off, and felt like a kick to the gut. With a jerk Psych grabbed his stomach, doubling over in search of comfort. The pain slowly spread out from there, moving through his limbs, sinking into his bones to stay. A headache sprang up from the base of his skull and pushed his thoughts to the side, pulsing as it grew bigger and bigger to the point it was going to make his head explode.

Suddenly his broken leg shattered and he would have screamed if he could. He gripped the splint, shaking in agony, when his heart caught on fire.

That was only the beginning. The ache in his brain continued to grow bigger and still bigger. His entire body felt like it had been smashed between two speeding semis. Then it truly started; his bones jerkily doubled- tripled in size, his skin and muscles stretched to match the new lengths while his organs grew and veins widened in the available space and his aflame heart sped up to an impossible speed to give the new amount of needed blood. His mind was being torn apart with the waves of pain crashing into it.

Then there was the painful miracle. With strangled groans he slapped his hands to the exposed space underneath his nose. Eyes squeezed shut; he kicked out while blood seeped between his fingers.

Needing to know what was happening to him he frantically looked around for something, _anything_ with a reflective surface. He could vaguely remember seeing a knife on the table, knives were reflective.

Straining through the pain coming from every inch of his body he got to his knees and reached for the table. Pulling himself up he reached across the surface of the table and grabbed the handle of the closest knife. Dropping back to the floor he angled the metal blade and removed his bloodied hand. What he found was both horrifying and wondrous at the same time. Underneath his nose was what had the potential to be a wide hole though vertical strings of skin were still holding it shut.

Reacting on impulse more than anything he took the knife in hand, felt along his face with the other hand and stuck the tip of the blade between his cheek and the first string of skin. Closing his eyes he angled the blade, yanked outwards and took his first gasp as blood dribbled down his chin.

That sudden cut seemed to have cut off the mutation. The pain suddenly stopped though his body was still shaking uncontrollably from it. The headache finally started to shrink until it was nothing but a small throbbing, and that was the only small thing to be found.

The old experiment stared at his hands in disbelief. They had to be at least five times the size of what they were. Looking down at himself he found it the same with the rest of his body. His arms and legs were longer, his bare feet bigger, torso taller… Picking the knife up from where he had dropped it he looked at his reflection in the narrow strip of metal. His face… it was older. But that wasn't the unbelievable part; the biggest change was the fact that he had a mouth! He touched the space that used to be smooth skin and found what his eyes were telling him to be true. The strings of skin that had been cut had morphed and moved themselves to become thin, pale lips. Just to be sure he moved his tongue and, for the first time in his two-hundred-some years _tasted_ his skin (he could use a bath).

_Well… _he thought. _My leg's not broken anymore and my clothes finally fit._

Looking around, the pain from the mutation starting to wear off, he noticed that everything seemed to be smaller. Or was his perception of proportion just distorted at his change in size?

Just needing to try it out, Psych twitched his cheek muscles and felt the corners of his new mouth get tugged. Working to keep the muscles in place he created an actual smile. For any human being this feat is possible in the first few hours of being born and is no big deal (except for the parents who are amazed at a baby's first poop and adore the first fart), but this male technically was not human, and he was happy about the fact of being able to show full expressions! Not only that but he still had his sanity, and so he decided that this, unlike many post-creation mutations before, was rather successful considering the fact that there hadn't been any scientists to monitor the process. Though he had to wonder: Mutating genes coming from a spider bite?

He shook his head. _This isn't the movies, this isn't Spiderman. It must have been a robot that injected me with its bite._

After a few minutes of sitting there on the floor allowing his body to get over the shock of mutating Psych decided it was time to get up, and maybe go console Gorf.

Reaching up, he gripped the edge of the table and pulled himself up. Planting his feet on the floor he straightened his legs and was amazed how tall he was. Everything seemed to be either at or under his eyelevel, and it was awesome.

Keeping his hands on the table for balance, he tested out his legs. With what little muscle he had stretched out over his bones he had become a very loose and lanky person, a bit bony even.

Straightening up to his full height he took a few steps. At first his feet dragged a little on the floor but he quickly adapted and walked easily. Going to the doorway and _BAM!_ hit his head on the top of the doorframe. Hands quickly going to his now throbbing forehead he realized he had become much taller than the average teenage body. _Actually… _he realized, comparing himself to everything else in the room. _I might be taller than the average adult…_

...---... ...---... ...---... ...---... ...---... ...---... ...---...

Being the born leader he was, Leonardo had a pretty good idea how to tell when someone was troubled. Especially when they had their arms crossed, their brow was wrinkled with worry lines and they were pacing back and forth so much they were on the verge of putting a dent in the floor.

At first the turtle had been standing at one of the windows of the main tree house, the pelt pulled back, and was solemnly looking out across the lake where he looked at the island by the waterfall with the crosses on it with a new light. He couldn't help but think that if it wasn't for Sharp there might have been a third cross put out there for Michelangelo. He didn't like the idea, why couldn't he take better care of his brothers?

His thoughts had been interrupted when the experiment had come into the room. Leo tried to ignore the presence, too caught up in his own thoughts but he couldn't help it anymore. He had to ask. "Gorf, is something wrong?"

Gorf quickly shook his head but his body language told all too much.

Leo stepped away from the window to confront the troubled technician. "Come on Gorf, what's wrong? You can tell me."

Gorf bit his lip and scratched his head. He needed to tell _someone_, but it hadn't been thirty minutes yet. Psych had _ordered_ him, but he couldn't keep the secret. This wasn't something to keep in the dark, but if there was one person this experiment would follow to the end it was Psych.

The mental conflict was plain on the guy's face.

"Gorf?" Leo asked.

Gorf shook his head. _Should I tell him? But I can't yet! But what if I don't?_ Just then an excellent loophole popped into his head. _What if I don't tell? What if I don't _tell_! _Gorf quickly grabbed Leo's hand and pulled him out of the tree house. "Come on, I need you to see this!"

Questioningly Leo followed as Gorf led him over the bridges and down to the kitchen. Inside the hut Gorf pulled him around the table of uneaten and slowly spoiling food to find- nothing but a discarded splint.

Gorf froze. "No," he muttered.

"What?" Leo asked a little confused at what he was supposed to be seeing. Then he noticed something red on the floor and took a step back. "Is that… blood?"

"Oh no," Gorf said, starting to feel sick. He turned to Leo and tried to explain what most likely happened.

...---... ...---... ...---... ...---... ...---... ...---... ...---...

"Do these stairs ever end?!" Dev said sharply. He had been out exploring the maze of tree houses, bridges and lifts when he had found a lift that led straight to a set of stairs that wrapped around the trunk of a tall tree. With nothing better to do he had started up them, that had been ten minutes ago. Sure he was going at a leisurely pace but he felt like he was going up the endless tower of some castle rather than around and up a tree.

Just as the thought of turning back had passed his mind he found the end of the stairs.

"Finally."

Stepping onto the landing he found a half finished deck overlooking the treetops with the clear sky overhead. Turning around he could see all the way to the volcano. It was apparent that the deck had just been started, not only because there was sawdust yet to be picked up by the swirling breezes but because half the floor was missing and the tools had been left behind. What was finished was a good sized wooden square for the floor along with railing going around the edges. Leaning on this railing, with his back turned to the stairs was Nick, just staring off towards the sea.

The panther's ears twitched at the sound of approaching footsteps though he didn't move as Dev walked up and leaned against the railing beside him.

"…peaceful," was the only thing Dev could come up with to say.

"Mm-hm…" was Nick's reply, followed by a steady silence of them just standing there. After a few minutes Nick shifted his arms.

Dev glanced sideways at the movement and noticed the black gloves that nearly blended into the dark skin. "So how do those work?"

"What work?"

"The gloves."

Nick took his eyes from the red horizon and turned around, still leaning on the rail. He ran his left thumb across the middle of his right palm. "There're four pressure pads across here, so when I make a fist the tips of my fingers hit them. When the fist tightens and pressure's put on the pads" he made a tight fist and the blades shot back out "instant weapon, perfect for both swiping and stabbing."

"Huh."

"What about you?" Nick asked. "You do any fighting?"

"Hand-to-hand isn't exactly my specialty," Dev admitted. "Don't get me wrong, I can throw a few punches when need be."

"The backup, huh?"

"Mmyeah, I guess you could say that," Dev shrugged and looked around. "So how do you guys know that's really a force field?" he asked indicating the sky.

"Some years back Sharp said he built a boat, just to check it out. When he reached where the red touched the water he crashed right into it as if it had been a brick wall; sunk the ship. He said he checked underwater too but the force field was solid all the way down. There's no way out."

"There's gotta be," Dev said.

"I bet the scientists have a way," Nick said vaguely gesturing to the volcano. "But there's no way we're gonna get it from them unless we wanna rage war with the odds at three hundred to one."

Suddenly there was the sound of more footsteps coming up the stairs accompanied by whistling. Moments later Mikey appeared in the sunlight, hands stuffed down his pockets. "Hey guys," he said at seeing the two experiments.

"Hey Mike," Dev greeted vaguely "what're you doing up here?"

Mikey shrugged. "Trying to stay out of trouble for once." He went to the railing, turned around, put his hands on the wood, and hopped up to sit on the rail.

Apparently the railing couldn't take the sudden jerk of being sat on and the combined weight of the three guys, so it did what would be expected to happen to someone that had a tendency to be a bit accident prone: it broke.

One minute the guys are lounging in the sun under the red sky, the next there's a loud _crack_ and they're falling backwards into a good three-hundred foot drop.

Dev reacted on reflex as he reached out and grabbed Nick's shoulder as he twirled to right himself and snapped his wings out. Mikey's reflex had him reach out and grip Nick's ankle. The sudden add to weight caused Nick to jerk downwards and Dev almost lost his grip, barely catching Nick again by the wrist.

Even though it was known to be done in the movies, in real life a winged person usually only had the strength to hold themselves and a small cargo in the air. Occasionally they work out enough to hold another body roughly the same size as them, if not smaller. But it was very rare that the casual flier, or even a daredevil, had the strength to keep two teenage bodies and himself in the air and Dev just wasn't one of those guys. He knew this already, and the fact was only proven when he couldn't keep altitude. It was all he could do to keep them from plunging down like rocks and aim just enough so that their somewhat soft landing was (God have mercy on his soul) the lake.

"Too… heavy…" the flier strained.

"I am not fat!" Mikey called up.

"Doesn't… matter Mike," Dev nearly growled. It was no use, he couldn't hold them up. An idea passed through his mind to just drop them and save himself from getting wet, but he couldn't because Nick was holding on to him too tightly. He tried, he really did, but the fall was inevitably ended with a _splash_.

As soon as he hit water Nick fought for the surface. Yes he knew how to swim, but he was also part cat and the water was _cold!_ Beside him Mikey appeared with a cough and sneeze.

"Ah man, I got water up my nose," he complained.

Nick glared at him.

"What?" Mikey asked innocently. "Hey I'm sorry, but how was I supposed to know it would break?"

Nick opened his mouth to snap something that would involve a few colorful words and the mutant's IQ when he noticed a missing body. "Where's Dev?"

"Dev?" Mikey looked around. The flier wasn't to be seen. _Did Dev ever learn to swim? _he wondered. As the seconds ticked by with no sign of the third body Mike got his answer and quickly dived.

Under the surface, sinking to the bottom of the lake, was Dev. Having not been quite ready and exhaling when he hit the water, he was already on the verge of passing out from no oxygen.

As quickly as he could Mikey went down and wrapped an arm around the experiment's middle. Kicking, he pulled Dev through the water and broke the surface to air. Dev coughed and choked, gripping onto Mike like he was an oddly shaped life preserver.

"I -cough- hate -cough- water…" Dev sneezed and started to shiver. "And this lake is freezing!"

"It's not _that_ cold," Nick disagreed.

"Says you, now can we get out to dry, warm ground?"

Not being very secret in rolling his eyes, Nick led the way to a rocky beach that surrounded the lake. Mikey tried to coax Dev into swimming for himself but the stubborn flier just clung to Mike's arm, refusing to let go until he could feel something solid underneath his feet.

Standing up out of the water Nick shook his head, causing the water clinging to his hair to fly, while a visible shiver ran down his body, ending at the tip of his tail. He took his boots off, water pouring from them, and threw them to the side to dry. He was about to peel his shirt off and do the same when he noticed something that didn't belong, or, more correctly, some_one_ that didn't belong. "Who are you?" he growled at a man sitting on a boulder that stuck up out of the lake beside a tree. The man was bony and looked stretched out with long, thin limbs. Dark, messy hair that twisted and stuck out in near every direction hung over tired grey eyes, while on his shirt and down his chin were traces of drying blood. He sat there, merely lounging in the shade, leaning against the tree behind him. The old eyes just looked at Nick before going back to gaze across the lake.

"Hey!" Nick shouted at being ignored. His fists clenched, the blades in his gloves shooting out.

The man's attention went back to Nick. He opened his mouth but nothing came out.

"Answer me!" Nick yelled.

The man closed his eyes. _But Nick, we met only yesterday. Your memory can't be that bad._

Dev couldn't believe it. The face was vaguely familiar, but… "No way- uh, Psych?"

_Hi Dev, Michelangelo._

Nick looked back at the guys behind him in confusion. "What?" He looked back at the man. Now that he thought about it he could sort of see the similarities. "But… you… little… now… _what_?"

Dev ran to the base of the rock. "Psych! I can't believe it, you're… big! And you have a mouth-" he gasped "can you speak? Say something!"

"What happened?" Mikey asked, coming forward too.

Psych leaned away from the tree and swung his legs so he was facing them, though he had to look down. _Remember back in the old Labs, how Alex had lost her wings and tail, and how she got them back?_

"You were mutated?!" Dev exclaimed. "Wha- how?!"

_I'm pretty sure I was bitten by a robot spider that was carrying a dose of mutagens._

"That sucks," Mikey said.

"Sucks?" Dev repeated. "Look at him! It worked out near perfectly! He's tall, and he can eat now! Man tell me you can speak, I wanna know what you actually sound like!"

_Hate to disappoint, but I can't talk._

"What- sure you can, Psych. I've heard you groan and stuff, I know your vocal chords work!"

Psych shook his head. _Its not that I don't have a voice, it's just that I don't know how to physically form the words. I've never had to and I never could. I've tried to say something while I've been sitting here but it's not understandable. Really, it sounds stupid._

Dev's disappointment only lasted a few seconds. He pulled on Psych's leg. "Come on; wait 'til the others get a load of you."

Being forced to move, Psych slid off the rock. Standing in front of Dev and Mike he found that he still looked down at them - now that was weird. While the top of Mikey's head just reached his shoulder Dev barely made it to his chest.

Dev looked down to make sure Psych was actually standing on flat ground, and to top it off he was barefoot! He looked back up with only one word, and Nick had the same.

"Damn."

* * *

I have too much time on my hands...

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	25. First Time for Everything

**Chapter Twenty-Four**

**First Time for Everything**

"Please… please, please, please, _please_!!!"

"Gorf lay off," Bomber said.

"Just say it," Gorf pleaded. "Come on, it rolls right off the tongue, easy!"

Psych gave an amused smile. After Dev had gotten over the fact of how short he looked compared to the adult body, he had dragged Psych up into the main tree house. Inside they found a dismayed Gorf sitting on one of the leaf filled bags, head in his hands. When Psych got him to look up Gorf had leapt to his feet and actually knocked Psych down in a hug. Then he had jumped back up and zoomed off to find someone to tell. Dev and Mikey had ran to do the same while Psych just sat down.

Soon everyone had been gathered in the room to see the mutation, except for Alex who was still in the infirmary. Psych's change in height had been the biggest shock, though that didn't keep Gorf's attention; what Gorf was thinking about was Psych's first spoken word. It appeared the frog-boy had his heart set on the first word to come out of the new mouth to be his name.

_Gorf, there I said it._

"Noooo…" Gorf whined. "Say it out loud, please!"

_I've told you, I can't say anything yet, physically I don't know how._

"Just try, pweeze!" Gorf stressed, sticking his bottom lip out, hands clasped together in plea.

Psych covered his face with a hand, head shaking.

Gorf lowered his head in a pathetic pout.

Psych huffed. "Kuh…" Gorf lifted his head. Psych put his hand down, eyes looking down in concentration. "Guh… o… er… th- ff… Guh- or… Gor… ff… Gorf? Gorf. Gorf," he said with a definite nod and a smile.

Gorf squealed gleefully and jumped forward, latching his arms around Psych's neck.

"First word," Leo said "congrats."

"Too bad it was wasted on a thing like _Gorf_," Raph said.

"It was not wasted," Leo scolded.

"Oh yes," Bomber sided with Raph "it was."

...---... ...---... ...---... ...---... ...---... ...---... ...---...

_Great, I'm hallucinating again… _Alex mentally groaned as she lay covered up on a new cot. The one she had been using before was being cleaned from the spills of poison-filled blood.

Alex had been having a rather odd dream concerning cookie dough when she had been woken up by the feeling of being watched. Upon open her eyes she found an adult that looked a lot like a stretched out Psych sitting on the next cot over.

She closed her eyes, sure that if she opened them this person would mysteriously disappear. But when she opened them the person was mysteriously still there.

"Yoo… gunn… ah… asss_k_ too?"

Alex couldn't hold down the amused smile, hopefully it didn't look to mocking. "Nah… I know you when I see ya, Psych. Mutating's a bitch, huh?"

_Not exactly my choice in words, but yes._

Alex sat up without the room spinning for the first time in two days, though it felt like weeks. "So I'm not just seeing things? You really are an adult now."

Psych's head bobbed in something of a nod. "I… guh… geh… jess-" he huffed in frustration. _I guess, _he mentally told instead.

Alex tried to hold back a laugh but a chuckle managed to escape. "It's great that you have the ability to speak and everything," she said "but man, you need practice."

_I know, _Psych agreed. _But hey, I've had a mouth for only a couple of hours._

Alex pushed the fur blankets off her legs and swung her feet to the floor.

_You sure you should be standing?_

"I feel great. That antidote-stuff really did the trick. Look, I can actually lift my own tail again." She demonstrated and tried to stand up but apparently her legs had forgotten that they were the key part of standing (again). A hand grabbed her arm and an arm was around her front before she hit the floor.

_You sure you should be standing?_

"Yes, just give me a second," Alex said and planted her feet, quietly scolding her legs to work. She brushed Psych's helping hands off of her and turned to face him face-to-chest. She looked up in surprise. "Damn you're tall."

Psych took a step back almost shyly. _I know… I think my growth spurt was a bit extreme._

"A bit?"

_I'm not a giant._

"You're not exactly small anymore either."

_I have to admit though, this is better than having to look up at everything, but since Sharp built this place to fit a bunch of teens I have to duck under everything too._

"You can't have everything," Alex shrugged and turned to walk for the door. "I'm hungry."

_Me too._

"My stomach's empty."

_I promise you, mine's emptier._

Alex looked over her should at him.

Psych just smiled.

"Shut up."

...---... ...---... ...---... ...---... ...---... ...---... ...---...

"CANNON BALL! WOO-HOO!!"

SPLASH!

"GAH! Shit!" Nick yelled as he jumped at getting a spray of ice cold rain on his bare back. Was it too much to ask for a nap in the sun on a nice warm rock? His jump of surprise caused him to lose his balance and he fell into the shallows of the lake. The water came up to his chest while he sat on his butt. He angrily looked around for the sorry soul that dared to disturb his cat nap and found a laughing Mikey.

Nick jumped to his feet.

Mikey caught the pissed off look. "Uh-oh." Nick lunged for him. Mikey dove underwater and swam for safety; Nick went after him, ready to hold the teen's head underwater until the bubbles stopped.

Seven feet in the depths underneath them hung the league of the aquatic.

Gorf looked up at a shadow passing over him and smiled.

Stripes chuckled (a stream of bubbles coming from his mouth).

Razor leaned back, hands behind his head, and closed eyes, a content smile pulling at his lips. Suddenly something pushed down on his stomach, causing his oxygen supplies to escape in one big bubble. His sides quickly gave him a new supply and he looked for the reason behind the push.

A few feet away Sharp wore a playful smile. He stuck his tongue out and shot off through the water. Razor's mouth split into a jagged, determined smile and went after him.

...---...

"At least they get a happy ending," Dev muttered as he stood on the deck that overlooked the lake. The water below was so clear he could see Razor go after Sharp. He had always wondered what it was like to have a brother. Was there some kind of bond that only the ones that have it know what it feels like? Or was it just knowing that there was someone in the world that knew who you were and accepted you for it?

He shook his head. _God, brotherhood sounds a lot like the love crap found in the movies… creepy…_

"Hi Dev."

"Wha- _HEY!_" he exclaimed when a hand shoved him in the back, his training from way back when had him up right and going back to the deck to confront the enemy in seconds. "Raph, what the _hell_ was that for?!"

"What? Don't ya know 'ow ta swim yet?"

"_No!_"

"Oh, okay den," Raph shrugged and looked like he was about to walk away when he quickly reached his hand out again and shoved Dev in the chest. Dev quickly latched onto Raph's arm to keep from falling backwards.

"Knock it off!"

Raph smirked. "Fine, I will." He grabbed Dev's arm, stepped around him and jumped off the deck.

"Wah!" Dev exclaimed at being whipped around and suddenly pulled out and down. He tried to stop himself with his wings but Raph was too heavy with muscle mass. Through determination to stay dry, Dev managed to stop the fall right before Raph's foot touched the surface of the lake.

Raph scowled at the failed plan as he looked down at the water.

"Let go!" Dev commanded, trying to pull his arm from Raph's grip when there was a suddenly splash and a green, four fingered hand grabbed Raph's ankle and yanked down. That movement had done it and Dev fell into the lake for the second time that day.

Raph let go.

Dev flailed in the water as he started sinking. He felt a hand grab his shoulder and he had half a mind to turn and bite it. When he felt his head break the surface and he could breathe again he wiped water from his eyes to find Stripes holding him up.

"Hi Dev."

"Hi…" Dev grumbled.

Gorf appeared out of the water. "Oh come on Dev, you can swim."

"No I can't you little piece of shit," Dev growled and reached out to grab the frog, realized that no one was holding him anymore and quickly grabbed for Stripes.

Gorf put up his four fingered hands up. The gesture of peace smoothly changed into him putting his hands behind his head and leaning back so he was partly floating on his back.

Soon after there was fierce splashing off to the side that was followed by laughter. "Okay, okay! Ha ha, knock it off! I'm gonna -cough-cough…" Stripes started coughing as Razor came up beside him. "…choke…" he weakly finished his sentence between coughs.

"Yep, you're still ticklish," Razor stated with a wide smile when he noticed Gorf, Raph, Dev and Stripes. "Hey Stripes, I think you got something stuck to your arm."

"No really, didn't notice!"

The twins swam over.

"Dev you still don't now how to swim?" Sharp asked.

"_NO!_" Dev snapped. "Now would you guys stop asking me that and get me to shore?"

"You should really think about learning," Razor commented.

"I'd rather not waste the time," Dev snapped.

"Hmph, really?" Stripes asked and suddenly dipped underwater. Losing his breathing floaty Dev quickly grabbed the closest body - Raph. Raph shoved him off and Dev was left stranded when everyone within reach took a stroke backwards.

"You assholes!" Dev yelled at them before he sank, only to reappear with Tyler gripping the back of his shirt.

"Why are there feathers in my lake?"

"It's not your lake Tyler," Sharp said.

"Hey, I sleep in it," Tyler pointed out.

"By choice."

Tyler rolled his eyes. "Whatever." He dropped Dev.

Being dunked once again, Dev resurface with Gorf hugging him from behind. "Gorf let me go," Dev with crossed arms. "I'd rather drown than be saved by you."

"Aw you don't mean that!"

"I do, with all my heart."

"Come on Dev," Stripes said. "Do you really want to be this dependent on _Gorf_?"

That idea seemed to have hit the right button, though he didn't look happy about it. "Fine, I'll learn."

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_Look at that, never thought I'd live to see the day… _Psych commented as he sat beside Alex on one of the bridges, their legs dangling over the side. Between them was a bowl of nonpoisonous fruit; around them were the cores of the eaten fruit.

"You mean Dev caving?" Alex asked. "Yeah me too, he's such a hard head."

_So he can be stubborn at times, you are too…_

"Hey, let's not bring my personality flaws into the subject. And besides, at least _I _know how to swim."

Where the two sat they had a good view of the lake's beach. Just off the shore Dev was fighting with Gorf and Stripes while a safe distance from them Razor and Sharp were more quietly teaching Jack how to swim. Near the middle of the lake Tyler lay on the surface, just floating there. He hadn't moved for quite a while, he was probably asleep.

Suddenly there was a sound of a crash and a white and orange streak ran behind them. "HiPsychhiAlex!" the streak cried before disappearing. Seconds later Nick appeared on the bridge, ax swinging in the loop on his pants.

"Have you guys seen that Mikey-kid?"

Alex and Psych glanced at each other.

"Nope."

_Can't say we have._

Nick grumbled something under his breath and kept on running.

From the bowl beside him, Psych picked up a coconut. Alex had said not to grab it when they had raided the kitchen together but he wanted to try as much as he could. But, unfortunately he hadn't been in that big of a rush because he insisted they clean the place up and put what could be salvaged of the food away.

_Coconut?_

"Why not," Alex shrugged and moved her tail to curve up to her side, blade lifted into the air and ready. Psych positioned the coconut underneath the blade, holding it in place with his hands on either side of the large nut.

Still looking down at the lake, Alex lifted the end of her tail a little higher and was about to bring it down.

_Uh… I'd prefer it if you were looking at what you sliced…_

"Oh, sorry," Alex said and turned her head to take proper aim. With a few practice swings she brought the blade of her tail down on the coconut. The ax blade made a clean cut, slicing the large nut in two. Psych split it with her and they commenced in eating the coconut meat.

A little while later Bomber appeared and sat down on the bridge beside Psych, looking down at the lake scene as Dev tackled Gorf and held his head underwater. Though they couldn't hear, it appeared that Stripes had pointed out that Gorf's gills were placed behind his ears, meaning he could still breathe, because Dev just punched him, knocking another tooth out that had already started to come loose.

_What's wrong?_

Bomber flicked at an invisible speck of dust on his pants. He shifted one of the straps of his overalls and crossed his lower arms. "I- I'm worried about Eli," he admitted tiredly. "I… I keep thinking that I'll never see her again, and even if I do she won't know who I am. F'n bastards'll have wiped her memory or _something_…" He covered his face with a hand, the elbow of that arm pressed into his knee.

Psych sighed. _I wish I could give you false hope, Bomber, I really do, but we both know, to them, she's just a scout._

Bomber bit his lip, squeezing his eyes shut. "She's just a kid."

Alex leaned forward a little, wondering if Bomber had taken notice she was there. Tough guy like him wouldn't be saying any of this stuff in front of just anybody. Then she got the real surprise, caught it in mid action: a single drop of water running down the explosive specialist's cheek. Alex quickly flicked her eyes to anything else that could be looked at. Though anything was possible there were just some things not meant to be seen.

* * *

Filler... but I needed to get Psych talking and get Alex better. Oh and an explanation on Psych, I don't buy into the whole you-just-got-a-mouth-and-suddenly-you-can-speak-perfectly-crap, so Psych will have some pronunciation problems. And a bird brain learning to swim??? O_o

Yeah, I can't believe that I got this up so fast either, and I should be doing homework but homework is stupid and this is more interesting! Anyway, as a reader of other stories and web comics I know what its like to want more updates, and I hate it when it takes a person MONTHS to update, so I try not to do that to those that actually read my stuff. ^_^

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	26. Shadow vs Shadow

**Chapter Twenty-Five**

**Shadow vs. Shadow**

A blanket of black had fallen over the island's world and with it the creatures that had just woken up came out to hunt. The wall of great logs remained standing tall and protective. Behind it the tree houses were quiet for night had come.

A hungry howl echoed up through the trees. An animal's shriek cut through the air.

In the slice of civilization the waterfall quietly roared to itself. Out from behind the curtain of water a piece of the darkness had broken from the whole and moved across the ground. It silently slid between the great trunks and moved up a hidden rope ladder that led to the back of the infirmary. Up on the deck that wrapped around the building the figure moved to the front and peered through the door. The beam of a dying flashlight swept across the cots - no bodies.

Turning around, the creature of secret went across the bridge and swept the room with the orange beam. The coast seemed to be clear. He moved into the room and froze at a sound. It was a snore. The creature looked around and found the sleeping form to be the one known as Michelangelo. He must have been hiding in the branches overhead and fell asleep.

With an amused smirk the creature continued on its way, looking for anything to be fixed or put away. It seemed that Skyler was taking better care to keep things in order during the day.

The dark figure went its usual rounds through the tree houses that he knew by heart.

As expected the flashlight started to flicker and finally die by the time he reached the extra bedrooms that now held occupants. Discarding the dead batteries he put fresh ones in from his belt.

Now with an inconvenient bright light, he checked each of the twelve buildings, searching for the ones given to Raphael and Leonardo. It wasn't hard to get what he wanted from Raphael, the mutant snored loud enough. But extracting the prize from Leonardo proved to be a greater challenge. First of all he didn't snore so there was no sound to hide behind; second of all the prize was sheathed on the other side of the bed where it was hard to reach without rousing the sleeping form.

Determine to get his new project, he slipped his shoes off outside the door and padded across the floorboards, keeping the beam of light at bay with his hand clasped firmly over the bulb.

...---...

Leo cracked an eye open at the feeling of a presence in the room. An out of place movement pulled his attention just fast enough for him to catch a glimpse of a form moving out the door. Through curiosity he got up to investigate.

By the time he stepped outside the form was already stepping off the platform onto the bridge that went to the deck that overlooked the lake. The figure looked big, about the size of a grown man, and appeared to be carrying something. He silently followed it, keeping back so as to keep his presence secret.

Leo got as far as the deck when the shadow he was tailing suddenly turned around. The white beam of the flashlight quickly swept the area, Leo barely keeping himself unknown by hanging off the edge of the deck.

There was a moment of tense silence before the figure moved with the sound of soft, quick steps of someone running but trying to remain silent.

Leo climbed back onto the deck and followed, now wondering not just who they were, but what they were hiding as well.

The chase went out onto the middle of a long bridge, and the figure whipped around again with the flashlight, but all there was to be found was empty space.

Up above, crouching on a twisting tree branch, Leo allowed himself a quiet sigh of relief. He had to admit that had been a close one. But he wasn't in the clear yet for the figure below began to sweep the surrounding branches with the light. To keep from being discovered he had to jump to five more branches, almost getting caught a few times.

_Maybe I should have played flashlight tag with Mike when he asked… _he thought with regret.

Seeming to be satisfied, though still suspicious, the dark figure slowly turned to continue on its way. Then sharply turned back around and shot off the way it had come, back to the deck.

It was hard since Leo wasn't very familiar with his surroundings, but he continued to follow the mystery man on the tree branches.

When the two reached the deck the figure ran right for the edge, jumped for one of the vines that hung down and used it to swing to the ground below. Leo quickly followed, but it was too late. By the time he hit the ground where the lake water lapped up onto the shore there was no sign of anyone ever being there.

Knowing he had been outrun - and not liking it - Leo climbed back up the vine to the deck and went back to his room. Taking a box of matches that Skyler had given him he lit the four candles in his room for light.

"I might now know who you are," Leo muttered "but I can figure out why you were here." He looked around the room, in the back of his mind he knew something was missing but he couldn't get what. There wasn't much in the room to begin with, what could have been taken?

Then he saw it. Or, more accurately, he noticed what wasn't there. The point was: his katana was **_gone_**.

* * *

Now _this _is short...


	27. Going Down

**Chapter Twenty-Six**

**Going Down**

There were things that Leonardo could take. Things like pain, Raph's temper and hard headedness, Mikey's growing independence, the fact that he will never blend in with the general public… but among the few things he couldn't take it was being stolen from.

When he had realized that his remaining katana had gone missing he had rushed out of his room and searched the grounds for the shadow that had visited him in the night even though he knew in the back of his mind that it was useless. Any thief would not stick around the scene after the crime had been committed, that was plain common sense. Yet Leo couldn't help wonder who the thief could possibly be. It seemed unlikely that there was anyone else on the island that was small enough to fit the size of the shadow and smart enough to use a flashlight and still get over the great wall that surrounded the camp of tree houses. If anything it seemed that his thief was someone that he knew, but who? This question had him hunting down the 'natives' of the island.

The first one he found was Sharp who was lounging beside Psych in the main tree house, the two of them watching Mikey sit in the middle of the floor playfully losing a poking fight with Jack.

In Leo's investigation he automatically ruled out Jack. The kid just didn't fit the role - at all. He couldn't see Sharp or Skyler taking his katana either, though. That left Nick and Tyler. Unfortunately, before Leo could subtly ask where the two were Raph burst into the room.

"Oi, Sharp!" he exclaimed angrily.

"Yes?" Sharp asked in cautious confusion.

"Someone was in my room last night and jacked my sia!"

_How are you sure it was stolen? _Psych asked.

"'Cause it's not where I put it last night!"

"Maybe you just mis-" Sharp started but was cutoff.

"I did _not_ lose it!"

"Dude, you lost your sia?" Mikey asked from the floor. "And I thought I was forgetful."

"I didn't forget where I put it!" Raph yelled. "Someone stole it!"

Sharp scratched his head. "No one here would have any reason to take it… and no creature could just walk through without someone noticing."

"What about Nick and Tyler?" Leo asked. "My katana's gone too."

"Nick and Tyler?" Sharp repeated. "No" he shook his head "I don't see why they'd take anything."

"Why don' we ask 'em?" Raph asked roughly.

"They left at dawn," Sharp said. "They always do when something crashes on the island to see if they can salvage anything. But…" Suddenly something seemed to click in Sharp's mind. Mikey could practically see a light bulb appearing above the guy's head. Sharp slapped a hand to his face with an annoyed groan. "God tell me he didn't…"

"What?" Leo asked.

Sharp got up and went to the window that faced the lake. Pulling the pelt curtain back he listened. After a moment he huffed and turned back to the room. "You guys only had one each, one sia, one katana, correct?"

"Yeah," Raph said with crossed arms.

"Those are duel wielding weapons, right?"

"The sai and twin katana, yes," Leo nodded.

With a huff Sharp headed for the lift to the ground. "Come with me," he told Raph and Leo. "I think I know what happened to your weapons." He led them down to the ground and through the trees. They went to the side of the lake where a worn path went around the water towards the waterfall. A wet ledge of rock created a narrower path along the great wall that the waterfall fell from. The air was damp with the mist created by the falls while the roar of falling water filled their ears.

The path took them behind the waterfall; the rocks under their feet were growing slicker and had gone smooth from being constantly treaded over for years.

About halfway behind the waterfall Sharp disappeared into a deep cave in the rock face. The passage was narrow enough that when Raph reached out both arms he could touch each wall. It didn't take long for the floor to start to tilt downward. After a few minutes there was a fork in the road, a lit torch sitting in a peg on the wall lighting up the choices. Sharp took the right way, a path that continued to slope down, eventually turning in a wide spiral going down, down into the Earth.

The spiral finally straightened out into a long, dark, stone corridor. A light could be seen at the end of the tunnel. The quiet sound of drops falling into puddles filled the air.

Something cold and wet hit Leo's shoulder. "Hey Sharp," he said "where are we?"

"Where're we goin'?" Raph added.

"We are underneath the lake," Sharp simply stated over his shoulder. "As for where we're going, you'll see."

At the end of the tunnel they came upon a wooden door that was lit up by a torch burning steadily beside it, occasionally giving off a hiss as a drop of water fell into the flames. With a fist Sharp pounded on this door… no answer. He pounded again… still no answer. "Okay…" he muttered and grabbed the metal ring that replaced a doorknob on the door. He pulled back on the ring. The heavy door stubbornly swung open after much effort.

The three that had been standing in the cool passage deep underneath the surface were hit with a sudden heat blast.

"Come on," Sharp invited and walked through the doorway, deeper into the hot air. The best description of inside was unexpected. The three entered a large room dub out of dirt and rock. It was somewhat similar to what Gorf had at dock 13 - a home and workspace crammed into a single room. From the dirt ceiling roots and naked light bulbs hung. The wires of the lights ended at a numerously repaired generator sitting in a corner, more wires shooting up through the ceiling, probably to the computer upstairs. To the left was a hammock and skillfully made chest of drawers, shelves stuck from the walls holding pictures, drawings, clothes, shiny rocks… Underneath the shelves was a small wooden table with a single handmade chair. To the right was a large desk shoved up against the wall, a second desk stuck out perpendicular to the first one creating an L shape. A swivel stool stood where the two desks met. On top of the desks were papers, rulers, writing utensils of all kinds, and stray nuts and bolts among projects that were so bizarre and unfinished that it was impossible to tell what they were. The back of the room held the reason behind the sudden heat: a roaring fire set into the rock wall. Beside the fireplace were a number of pegs holding numerous tools, and more tools hanging from the ceiling. In front of the fire was a large, blackened stone that could possibly take the place of an anvil. Sitting along the wall were a collection of large, wooden cabinets. Beside a cabinet on the far right was another door.

Sharp went to the back of the room to look around. "Here we are," he said and picked up a sia from behind the anvil-rock. "I've tried to tell him not to just take things."

"Let me guess," Leo said, looking at the living space half of the room. "This is where Jeff lives."

"Hides more like, but yes," Sharp said with a nod. "This is his room slash workshop." He found a katana where the sia had been resting. "I'm sorry these were taken," he returned the weapons to their owners "Jeff must have noticed that you guys only had half of a set. He likes to make things, anything; from artwork to carpentry to blacksmithing, as long as he can use his hands. He should have asked to take your things but I told you before, he's shy, though he likes getting jobs done quickly and hates to standby while a job is in need of doing. In fact, I heard the sound of hammers before we got down here, so…" Turning for the cabinets he started opening them to show an array of sharp weapons and tools. After opening the third cabinet he reached in and withdrew a shiny new katana. "Yep, as I thought, he was making replicas."

"Wow, this is…" Leo had to look for a word when he was handed the new sword. It seemed to be an exact copy of his sword, right down to the final detail of a blue wrap around the handle. "Amazing," he finally said though he knew it didn't do the handiwork justice.

"Where's mine?" Raph all but demanded when he saw a sudden movement in the corner of his eye. He turned around just in time to see a flash of color run through the doorway and disappear into the shadows of the underground tunnel, the quiet splashing of feet hitting puddles quickly fading in the darkness.

Sharp caught the movement and sounds too and sighed. "And there he goes. I wish he would just show himself, but there's no forcing the guy."

"I'm sure he'll open up when he's ready," Leo said in a distant tone as he continued to study the new weapon with admiration.

...---... ...---... ...---... ...---... ...---... ...---... ...---...

"Man this is a long staircase…" Alex muttered. She had found the staircase that led up to the platform Mikey, Dev, and Nick had fallen off just the other day. When she finally reached the top the place was closer to being done, a thick railing surrounding the entire floor. A sign was nailed to the railing that read: 'CAUTION: DO NOT lean on rails'.

Across from the stairs Dev stood, leaning back on the railing as he stared up at the sky. He looked down at the sound of footsteps. "'Ey," he said seeing who it was. "Good to see you walking around."

"You been worried?" Alex asked as she moved across the floor, black hands in her pockets.

"Me? Nah," Dev shook his head. "It was just weird; _you_, down for the count? It's not natural."

"We're not exactly natural ourselves," Alex pointed out.

Dev shrugged with a lazy nod. "True." He looked back at the sky. "Hey… do, do you… do you think that's really solid up there?" he asked vaguely moving his arm up towards the red heavens.

Alex looked up. Through her nauseous limbo she was never really able to take in what her surroundings were like. This was the first time that she actually registered the fact that the sky wasn't its natural color. Yesterday, while eating with Psych, she had asked for the download of the place and recalled being told that the entire island was surrounded by a force field. "Hm…" The two stood there for a while, just staring up there, thousands of feet overhead, at the ceiling of their cage.

Finally Alex looked down at Dev with a smirk, her wings twitching. "You know…"

Dev looked down at her.

"There's only one way to find out."

A slow smile split Dev's face. "God I love having another flier around."

Alex pointed up. "Race ya to the top."

"I hope you like the view of my butt!" he exclaimed playfully and jumped into the air, wings doing what they were meant to. Alex was right behind him, but not for long.

"Ha! I might have been grounded for a few days but that doesn't mean I've lost my speed!" she called between her feet.

"Oh I'll give ya speed!"

It was innocent play as the two fought to be first. For a moment they had completely forgotten why they were in the air, any flier was subject to this kind of forgetfulness. All they cared about was just being in the air, knowing in the back of their minds that if anything went wrong there would be a long drop down but that just put all the more fun it. There was no worrying about height or gravity when it came to being born with wings. All that mattered was just being aloft… being free… just being _there_. Then, like all fun things, it came to an end much too quickly.

Alex reached the ceiling first with Dev just underneath her foot. They stopped, just underneath the redness. It was feeling more than anything that kept them from continuing, like willingly punching a wall; you know that there'll be an impact so your body tries to make it as soft as possible to avoid pain.

One question had been answered as they floated there, rhythmically flapping their wings: something really was standing between the island and open sky. Now the question was: was it solid?

Dev looked at Alex. Alex looked at Dev. They both reached out and touched the red sky. As soon as they did a pulse suddenly shout out from their fingertips. It went to the farthest reaches of the island and deep into the sea. The two looked at each other in uncertain question. Then, just as suddenly the pulse shot back and touched the fingers that were still against the force field. Electricity tore up their arms and spread out through their bodies in an electrocution that tightened up the muscles and made you forget how to move. Seeing the force field start to lift away the two realized they weren't flapping and quickly tried to get their wings back into rhythm - their wings weren't responding, the muscles wouldn't move. For a flier that's in the air that's not a very good thing to happen, especially one that's easily twenty-five thousand feet above the very hard ground.

What happened next was a child's nightmare and flier's horror: uncontrollable falling.

...---...

Simultaneously the eyes of a meditating Splinter and a dozing Psych snapped open. It was the role of a single father to know that something was not right when it came to one that he considered to be part of his family. It was the role of a telepath that was looked up to by so many to be able to distinguish the feelings of the minds he was connected to and understand what those feelings where.

It's easy to say that Splinter was out of the room at once to see which child could possibly have put themselves in danger (again), while Psych jumped up from his spot, smacked the top of his skull on a branch, and ducked through the doorway with a hand to his now pulsing head.

"Something is wrong," Splinter said as he looked around from the bridge.

_They're terrified…_

"Who is it?"

_Dev and Alex, they're… _"Uh-oh."

Splinter hastily followed when Psych ran off the bridge, through the main tree house, and all but jumped off the lift. Standing on the ground Psych looked up. Splinter didn't need to ask, he could hear it now: screaming. Though it was faint the voices were quickly getting louder - closer.

It was a matter of milliseconds before the ones with higher hearing heard the voices too and came outside for investigation, others following questioningly.

By now the two fliers could be seen as more than just vague pricks of color against the expanse of redness above. Both of them were falling headfirst, forever picking up speed as gravity harshly reminded them that they were still bound under its rule.

Don was the first to get his voice back when the realization of what was happening passed through the minds of those on the ground. "Something's wrong…"

"Maybe they're just playing," Mikey said optimistically though a hint of nervousness could be heard in his voice.

"If they were playing they wouldn't be screaming," Bomber snapped.

"What do we do?" Gorf asked worriedly.

"Find something soft enough that'll break their fall," Don said.

Psych shook his head. There was nothing that could be easily reached that was soft enough to safely break a fall from that height. Even if there was by the time they got it Dev and Alex would have already-

He pressed his thin mouth into a thinner line. Though he never admitted it he hated never being able to help, all he had ever done was just give words of advice, he never actually _did_ anything helpful.

He watched the bodies getting closer and closer to the ground, able to picture the ending all too well. _No, _he thought privately. _That's not a good enough ending! _Instead of picturing a _splat_ for a close to the fall he locked his eyes on the two forms that were still a good couple hundred feet off the ground. Not quite sure what he was doing, or if it'll work, he stared up and pictured in his mind what he wanted to happen: the bodies breaking gravity, and stopping.

Up in the air Alex and Dev didn't know what to do. It seemed the only part of them that they could still use was their vocal cords, and they use them they did. What made it worse was they had turned upside down in their fall so they had a great view of the Earth coming up to meet them.

When they still had about two hundred feet to go Alex started to feel a slight pressure on her face and torso. Dev could feel it too. He wasn't sure if it was really there or if he was just imagining it through the crazed thoughts of knowing you were about to _die_. But then, the pressure seemed to harden and they stopped like they had hit a net - a very weak net. As soon as the two were able to grasp the fact that they weren't falling anymore whatever was holding them up disappeared and their plunge to death resumed. After a few feet the same thing happened; something caught them, they stopped only to be dropped and continued falling. It happened over and over again until finally, when there was only twenty feet left between the living and the ground, the pressure completely surrounded them like a pair of invisible hands grabbing them in large fists.

Even if they could neither Dev nor Alex dared move in case any shift in weight would break whatever was happening. They didn't even yell for they had left their voices about eighty feet up.

The force that was keeping hold of the two bodies slowly lowered them fifteen feet closer to the ground before it broke again causing them to hit the ground with a soft "Oof!" where they lay pale and trembling - and they weren't the only ones.

_It's official… _Dev thought, hoping that was nervous sweat that was soaking into the back of his pants and not something more embarrassing. _There is a God…_

The disbelieving, concerned and confused quickly went forward like any group would when they weren't sure what the hell had just happened.

Gorf had started to go with the rest of them when he noticed Psych hadn't moved at all. In fact, he quickly realized that the adult, too, was pale and trembling where he stood while a trickle of blood dribbled out of the left nostril. "Psych?" Gorf asked in concern. He stepped up to the tall body and touched its arm.

Psych slowly looked down with almost vacant eyes.

"Psych?" Gorf repeated. "You okay?"

_That was… _the familiar voice in Gorf's mind was weak and distant. _A close one… _With a soft exhale Psych's knees buckled and he hit the dirt in a faint.

...---... ...---... ...---... ...---... ...---... ...---... ...---...

"This is great, finally something that doesn't poke you in the ass every time you sit down!"

"The thing's kind of heavy though…"

"Worth the work."

The voices drifted up to the tree houses and into the infirmary, though Psych didn't need to be able to verbally hear them, he could sense their thoughts half a mile ago as he lay there on the cot with some kind tissue-like substance stuck up his nose and one of the biggest headaches in his life. It felt like if he even tried to move his head would explode. In the back of his mind he knew that there was a better chance of him spontaneously combusting but he had decided not to risk it all the same.

Across the bridge Razor was having trouble calming Alex. Her and Dev were sat huddling against the wall still shaking even though their tumble back to Earth had been twenty minutes ago. Neither fliers had said a word and were little more than breathing rag dolls. It seemed no matter what he did or said Razor couldn't get a reaction. Even Bomber tried to get Dev to snap out of it but no matter how much he poked fun at, or physically shook, Dev continued to sit there with empty eyes staring ahead.

When Leo, Raph and Sharp appeared shortly after Psych's passing out questions had been asked and what little that was understood told.

The three bodies were hauled to the lift with more difficulty than was first thought. It wasn't that they were heavy, but picking up a body that either refused, or couldn't support itself was both awkward and hard to keep a grip on.

No one was quite sure what had happened to Psych though Don had his theories.

Skyler had performed a round of basic body checks on Alex and Dev to find what had happened but she said that everything seemed to be physically fine. When she did the flashlight-pointed-at-the-eye trick the eyes reacted normally to light. "The crap was scared out of 'em," she diagnosed "but they look fine, Dev might need some new pants but that's about it."

"But why'd they fall in the first place?" Razor asked.

"That… is a good question," Skyler admitted her ignorance. "All I can say is ask them and hopefully get an answer."

By the time Nick and Tyler appeared from the lift struggling with a chair from the crashed plane between them. While they moved the chair into the room their voices were overlapping each other as they argued over who owned the chair, and the rules of calling dibs over salvaged objects. So caught up in their argument the two simply put the chair down and left to continue unloading a large cart that was waiting on the ground below. It wasn't until they had gone up and down four times did they noticed the trembling fliers by the wall.

"What'd we miss?"

After the two were answered in mostly vague guesses it took close to an hour for Alex and Dev to finally calm down. The first signs of resuming life were shown when Jack had wondered if something was permanently wrong with the two and had done what Sharp always did after he got hurt, or scared: he gave a hug, arms wrapped around Alex's neck.

Slowly, very slowly, a black hand moved up from the floor and touched the boy's back. The other hand came up, reached around and embraced the small body.

Jack stood there a moment before he pulled back. "You okay?"

"I… th… think so," Alex said softly.

"Oh sure, you answer _him_!" Razor playfully accused with crossed arms.

_You two better be okay… _"Ah-mos… brro_k_e… meh min_d_," Psych struggled to actually say, realizing that he had a tendency to stress certain consonants, as he ducked under the doorway to enter the room with a faint smile.

"Psych!" Gorf exclaimed, dropping to the floor from hanging upside down from one of the lower branches in the ceiling. "Stop passing out on me! It's very frustratingly worrisome and… a little scary…" he lowered his voice to a murmur.

"What do you mean break?" Don asked.

Psych leaned against the wall. He had confirmed that his head wasn't going to explode fifteen minutes ago and had just been laying there as his body gradually recollected the strength it took to stand up. His legs were still a bit weak but he wasn't going to collapse. "Eh may beh- b_ee_" _coincidence but… _Psych looked at his feet, what he was thinking seemed so far fetched, even for him. _I think my mutation gave me more than a couple feet in height._

"What do you mean, like…" Gorf had to search for the word that explained what had happened outside. "_Telekinesis_?"

Psych shrugged vaguely. He looked around the room until his gaze rested on a ball sitting on a shelf. Staring at the object he did what he thought he did outside. He pictured in his mind the sphere rolling forward off the shelf so it hit the floor, bounce a little before it rolled across the floor to rest obediently at his feet.

Lightly, just to make sure, Psych tapped the ball with his foot. Yep, it was really there. Calmly, he flicked his eyes up at Gorf with another shrug. _If that's what you want to call it…_

...---... ...---... ...---... ...---... ...---... ...---... ...---...

Out on the deck a figure sat at the edge listening to the water yell out as it fell from the cliff and hit the lake below while a blanket of night lazily wrapped around him. He stared down at the softly rippling water below him while his legs dangled from the deck. He had always liked this spot to just sit by himself without having to worry about something trying to bite his head off or drink his blood while he lost himself in thought.

Over the years it had been extremely easy to be by himself; Tyler usually retired around sunset to the bottom of the lake where he had set up a room in an underwater cavern. Nick had a room that was isolated at the back of the slice of civilization that could only be reached by swinging through a series of thick, strategically placed ropes or somehow climbing a tree that had branches so squirrelly that you had to be part snake - or at least cat - in order to maneuver up the trunk to get to a hole in the bark that led into a room that was literally carved out of the tree. Skyler had a small building that was solidly built fifty feet above the infirmary and was reached mainly by lifts and bridges. Jack shared a room with the figure, sleeping in his own little cave of furs high above the main tree house, safety nets sticking out underneath the building for the small body's sake.

Drifting through his mind, Sharp found himself thinking about those that he used to know. It was strange as his eyes gave him familiar faces but his memory found strangers. Even his own brother - his _twin _- wasn't what Sharp could remember from all those years ago. Razor had always been the helpless one, the one ready to follow. Though it was never told to him, Razor had been a fluke and was planned for deletion a few days after creation. The only reason he was still alive was because once the muscle men had come in to take him away they had conveniently forgot why they were there and hastily walked out remembering they had something else to attend to. He was innocent in his actions, picking boyish fights to pass time and somehow prove that he was worth something in the meaningless life. But now… scarred and mutated…

Sharp shook his head. _Razor, how you've changed… how all of you have changed… Shit happens? Too much has happened… I'm sorry I wasn't there…_

"Don't be."

Yanked back to reality, Sharp's ears jerked to the sound of footsteps coming towards him. Looking up, eyes used to the darkness settling down for the night, he found one of the turtles. By the voice he could figure which one. "Hey Leo," he greeted quietly. Though there was more than enough room on the deck he scooted over a few inches. Leo sat down cross-legged. "What'd you mean?" Sharp asked in a voice barely over a whisper.

"Didn't mean to eavesdrop, I was headed to bed, but you were muttering to yourself," Leo briefly explained, implying his respect to alone time. "You don't need to be sorry for anything. From what I can understand you couldn't help the fact that you were taken from New York. Nothing could have stopped them at the time. Though we control our destiny it's hard to control the twists and turns our lives take."

"Huh, destiny," Sharp said as if the word was foreign on his lips. "You know, for a long time I thought I didn't have one. Many experiments don't believe in it, not for themselves anyway. It seems that the only point in our lives is to die; no fate to wait for us and give us meaning, all there was to follow the suffering of life was stone cold death. In fact many couldn't wait until the day they expired, myself included, but something internal kept us from taking our own lives."

"Hope," Leo supplied. "Everyone hopes for things to get better - the hope for a better future, and there's no way to witness that future if you go ahead and die."

Sharp leaned forward, hugging his arms as they pressed into his legs. Far out in the lake he could just make out the dark silhouettes of the two crosses on the island out there. "Hey Leo," he said after a quiet while. "Do you believe in life after death?"

Leo had to think about that one for a moment. "Well…" he said finally. "I, personally, believe there's _something_, but that's just what I believe. I guess… there's really no way to know until you experience it for yourself."

"Yeah, that's the problem with death; once it happens there's no coming back, not completely." Another minute of silence passed with the two just sitting there. Two beings of completely different worlds yet share more similarities than either would like to realize.

Finally the serenity of the night that had fallen around them was broken when Sharp slowly got to his feet. "It's late," he commented in explanation of his movement. He turned to walk to his room, though he stopped halfway to the bridge that led through the hollowed tree. Partly turning back he said "And Leo?"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks."

"No problem."

It wasn't until Sharp was on the lift that would take him to the door of his room that an unsettling gurgle came from the pit of his stomach. He put a hand to his gut with an uncomfortable shiver, leaning against the railing around him he softly groaned.

When the lift stopped he stumbled out of the lift, trying to be quiet as he entered the room and went for a bucket that was thrown in the corner. Picking the bucket up as he gradually started to feel worse, recognizing the monthly feeling, he went to a pile of blankets that - at first glance looked like a mound of sloppily thrown together furs - was a strategically put together bed. It had taken him months to get the blankets to fit together just right for ultimate warmth and comfort. He put the bucket within easy reach of this bed, crawled under the covers, curled up, and tried to mentally prepare for the next forty-eight hours.

* * *

I hate high school, and it doesn't help that fact that Finals are coming up next week, not looking forward to that at all. Like its not enough that I just can't get motivated to do homework, at least there's no required extra work for orchestra even though our "Big Test" is a humongous concert. I don't like concerts, its not like I mind the large audiences (they don't bother me anymore), we have to dress up and I rather detest dressing up. I rather enjoy my jeans and tennis shoes thank you! But know, dressing up is part of the grade......

Anyway, here's this chapter, will we ever meet the mysterious Jeff?? REVIEW and you might find out!

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**_REVIEW!!_**


	28. Helplessly Handicapped

**Chapter Twenty-Seven**

**Helplessly Handicapped**

_**BAM!**_

"_DAMN IT!"_Tyler slapped a hand to the left half of his face with a line of more swears spilling from his mouth while he stumbled back from the doorway. One would think he'd know where all the doorways were by now but this always happened, it never failed! At least he wasn't bleeding this time.

Jack jumped at the unexpected exclamations and suddenly found himself in a green lap.

"'Ey!"

Quickly realizing who he had jumped to Jack disappeared from Raph and reappeared with Don across the room.

Tyler stomped into the room, already in a bad mood at the start of the day. Eyes moved to him, even Splinter had to look through mild curiosity. The boy moved his hand to make sure he didn't have a nosebleed and revealed a rather unsettling sight. The left eyeball had turned completely purple; there wasn't even a sign of a pupil.

"You okay?" Don asked.

"No," Tyler growled and went to the shelves. After shoving things to the sides and the floor, freely cursing and damning fruit trees and Nick for probably moving what he was looking for before he found it: an eye patch.

"So that's what the fruit did to you?" Don asked.

"Yes," Tyler huffed. "It's very annoying, and it's all Nick's fault, really, but don't tell him I said that 'cause he gets really touchy about it," he said as he worked to get the eye patch over his purple eye. "Not like you could tell him anything at the moment anyway, he's probably completely lost his hearing by now. I wonder if it's my turn to go get Skyler…"

...---... ...---... ...---... ...---... ...---... ...---... ...---...

Fire crackling constantly, salty sweat dripping into blankets, tired eyes staring at the stone ceiling. _God damn it… The damned fire was supposed to burn out, not keep going! Ugh, this place needs ventilation bad. It's so _hot… _Gotta get up… Gotta get up… If you don't get up you you're gonna rust._

With a tired groan the body rolled over and hit the floor.

"Stupid hammock…"

With whirling gears that fought to keep working despite the sheets of sweat, Jeff got up, popped his neck, picked up a water-filled bucket sitting beside the cabinets of weapons and splashed the fire behind the anvil-rock.

Hissing replaced the crackling pops as smoky steam lifted up from the fireplace.

Dropping the bucket Jeff stripped down to change into a tank top and airy shorts that weren't soaked with sweat, grabbed the sia that had been placed to the side to cool, wrapped the handle in a dyed red cloth and left the room.

It was nice and cool in the tunnel under the lake.

_Note to self, don't leave the fire running, just put it out before bed…_

...---... ...---... ...---... ...---... ...---... ...---... ...---...

Feeling extremely cruddy from the day before, Alex just pulled the blankets over her head against the sunlight and decided to just skip life today; Dev was probably doing the same.

While she lay there trying to go back to sleep, Alex couldn't help but wonder what the hell had happened yesterday. It was like her muscles had just locked up; reflex couldn't even get them working. The mere memory of the fall had her shuddering. She'd never been scared like that in her life.

_Huh… a flier dying by falling to their death, God you just love irony, don't you?_

As the sun rose Alex concentrated on falling asleep. The beginnings of a dream had just started to form before her eyes when she became of aware of something continuously poking her in the shoulder. She swatted at it in annoyance but it didn't go away.

Shifting the blankets she sent a glare out at the blond teenager. "_What_?"

Mikey gave a large innocent smile, leaning forward towards the bed with hands behind his back. "Mornin'!"

"Again, _what_? I'm trying to sleep here."

Mikey's smile shrank some as he looked off to the side like he was trying to remember why he was there in the first place. "Oh yeah," he finally said and the smile grew again. "I'm bored."

Shooting death lasers out from under the covers, Alex rolled over to face the wall and tried to go back to sleep.

"Alllllleeeeeeex…" Mikey whined.

"Go bug Raph."

"But Raph's not fun like you. Come on, you used to skateboard with me all the time."

"Go have Don invent you a skateboard," Alex grumbled.

"Come with me," Mikey urged, pulling at the covers but Alex stubbornly kept them in place. Mikey crossed his arms in thought. After a moment a light bulb appeared over his head. "We could go collect bugs."

Alex had to think a moment to make sure she had heard that correctly. "Why?" she asked.

"So we can give them to Raph."

"And what would that accomplish?"

"We can watch him freak out."

Alex sat up, guilty with mild interest. "Why would he do that?"

"He's afraid of bugs, though he won't admit it…"

"Since when?"

"Since forever I guess," Mike shrugged.

Alex looked down at the blankets. On one hand she really wanted to just sleep, but on the other hand she was curious at just how 'afraid' Raph was of little bugs.

...---... ...---... ...---... ...---... ...---... ...---... ...---...

The first warning that the day's not going to go well is when you wake up to find that you can't feel your legs.

With a sigh Skyler sat up and pushed the blankets off. She turned towards the edge of the bed and had to pick each purple leg up and drop them over the side of the cot. Reaching to the side she grabbed a rope that was hanging from the ceiling. In her room there were numerous strategically placed ropes hanging from above for this specific reason.

"Ugh, I need to work out more…" Skyler groaned as she used the small amount of upper body strength she had to pull herself off the bed. Using the ropes to get across the room without the help of her legs she finally reached the doorway and fell. "This is what I get for losing count of the days. I knew I should have started sleeping in the living room…" she muttered crossly to herself before starting to weakly army crawl across the bridge. The boys she lived with weren't very reliable when it came to remembering whose turn it was to carry her to her wheelchair.

Halfway across the bridge she heard the sound of rushing wind, but the leaves weren't rustling. The sound got louder - closer? The more she heard it the more it started to sound like flapping wings than the wind.

Looking around in wonder she managed to catch a shape- a _big_ shape in the air, and it was coming right towards the tree houses.

...---... ...---... ...---... ...---... ...---... ...---... ...---...

Nick hated this time of month; having to look around knowing what the world was supposed to sound like but having nothing coming from his ears except for some dull buzzing that was extremely annoying. And no doubt Tyler was going to take advantage of his deafness by saying things behind his back or throwing things at his head while hiding behind the excuse of 'getting his attention from across the room'. It was needless to say that the next forty-eight hours were going to be spent with a scowl yanking at the corner of his mouth.

At the moment Nick was heading around the lake to go use the lift up to the main tree house. By the appearance of drying footprints in the dirt he suspected that Tyler was already up.

Getting clear of the tree trunks he noticed something out in the dirt. Going over to it he found it to be chunks of dirt missing from the ground.

_Hooves?_ he wondered, examining the shape of the hole. He looked over at the wall. _Are animals getting in? That's not good. First its hooves, next it's gonna be paw prints. _Wolf_ prints. I better go talk to Jeff about that._

...---... ...---... ...---... ...---... ...---... ...---... ...---...

"…so do you have any idea what happened yesterday?" Razor was asking when he walked out of the kitchen hut, fiercely biting into an apple. One of his teeth had come loose and it was already turning into a pain.

Dev shook his head. "I just touched that force field-thing. It looked like some kind of pulse was sent out at mine and Alex's touch, then the pulse came back and bam. Next thing I know my muscles seem to lock up and I can't move a thing. I can't believe I'm saying this, but I'm actually happy that Psych was mutated, if he hadn't been…" He shook his head. "Us fliers have always played with free falling and waiting for the last second to lift up, but when you _know _that you can't stop yourself… its scary."

"Hey, I can understand," Razor said. "Its like us aquatics, we love the water and everything, but if something happens to our gills and we can't make it to the surface in time…"

"Hey Razor!" a voice suddenly yelled from behind them. The two experiments turned around to find Stripes running towards them.

"Hey, what's up?" Razor asked.

"I was gonna go look to see what kind of menu this place had. I figure it might be a while before we finally get off this island, might as well see what the place has to offer," Stripes said. "Thought about going to find Tyler and Sharp and ask them to come along and show us the fishing hotspots if ya wanted to come." He noticed the apple in Razor's hand. Most of the experiments that were part shark were mostly carnivores. "Loose tooth?"

"Uh-huh."

"Try asking Bomber about it."

Razor shook his head. "If I wanted to get punched in the mouth I'd go use Raph's sia for close-range spear fishing."

"Hey, it might be crude but it's effective," Stripes said putting a hand to his cheek. "Over with in a second, especially if it's done when you're not paying attention."

"I think I'll just keep working with this apple," Razor said as the three headed for the main tree house. When they walked in they found Don telling Jack stories about past adventures with his brothers just for having nothing better to do, and Raph in a dart throwing contest with a one-eyed Tyler.

"Hey Tyler-" Stripes started when a screeching sound cut across him. Dev went rigid, he knew that screech, the owner had him drop Psych in the sky, and it sounded close. Tyler wasn't familiar with the battle cry but he didn't like the sound of it or the reaction from the flier when Dev ran out of the room to look at the sky from one of the bridges. Tyler and others followed to investigate.

Scanning the red sky they quickly found the small dragon-like creature as it circled in the sky - the type of maneuver a predator would do as it waited for the right time to strike something on the ground.

Jack gripped Razor's leg at the sight of the monster being so close to home.

Dev looked down, knowing exactly what the screech was for, and found Nick out in the open looking at something in the dirt. Cupping his hands around his mouth he yelled "Nick!" but didn't get a reaction. Nick's cat ears didn't even twitch.

"He can't hear you," Don quickly realized before Tyler got a chance to say it.

"What?" Dev asked, not yet educated in the side effects of the forbidden purple fruit that grew from the ceiling of the main tree house.

"The idiot's gone completely deaf," Tyler quickly explained as he ran back into the tree house to grab his crossbow. The one time he puts it down he needs it, go figure.

During the moment of the group on the bridge wondering what to do, the creature on the sky gave another hunting screech before diving.

...---...

On the ground Nick had decided to go find Jeff to talk about animals getting into the place during the night when he noticed an out of place shadow appearing before him that was getting bigger at an alarming pace. Nick snapped his attention skyward and quickly stumbled back in surprise.

The dragon monster landed heavily on the ground in front of the experiment. Nick quickly reached for his ax. Before he could reach his weapon, though, the monster sharply whipped around, lashing its powerful tail out. It caught Nick in the side and rammed him into the wall where he banged his head and crumpled to the ground.

The monster advanced on the defenselessly unconscious body but was stopped when something grabbed its tail and yanked back. Annoyed at being kept from its fairly won meal, the creature whipped around to maybe bite the head off of whatever dared to disturb its breakfast and received a punch across the snout.

"Man tha' thing's ugly," Raph commented as he jumped before the lift hit the ground.

"Never seen that before," Nick said, cocking his crossbow.

Don jumped down beside Raph. "Hey, who's that?" he asked seeing the one that had punched the dragon right in the face. It was a guy around eighteen with dark, leathery skin in a tank top and shorts, and charcoal colored hair that had been pulled back in a loose ponytail. What was interesting was that his right arm was gone and had been replaced by a robotic one. It wasn't a very neat replacement, the gears were showing as they moved and the design was bulky but it was sturdy. This fact was shone when the guy grabbed the dragon by the snout with the metal hand, and jerked it clockwise so hard that the monster was forced to roll over.

"That's Jeff," Tyler said.

The dragon jerked out of Jeff's grip, righted itself and screamed angrily.

With tightened fists Jeff planted his feet and bellowed back.

The dragon took some steps back and screamed again.

Jeff repeated the yell.

The dragon continued to step back, wings starting to unfurl. With another scream, as if showing it wasn't really scared, the monster lifted into the sky without its meal and flew off.

"Yeah you better run!" Jell called after it shaking a fist and went over to Nick. The boy was just starting to come back to his senses after getting briefly knocked out.

"Wha' 'appened?" Nick asked his deafness making him unaware that he was speaking louder than needed.

'You were knocked out' Jeff said with his hands and helped Nick to his feet. "Pay more attention," he said when Nick was looking, the panther fuzzily reading his lips.

"'ey, I'm deaf 'ere," Nick defended pointing to his drooping ears. "Waz yer esuze?" he asked vaguely indicating Tyler who was coming their way with Don, Raph, Razor, Jack, Dev and Stripes.

"Hey, I'm half blind," Tyler said pointing to his eye patch.

"So you're the evasive Jeff," Don said.

Jeff turned around to face the group. It turned out that his arm wasn't the only thing he was missing. His right eye was robotic also; a long scar ran vertically over the socket. "So, I'm cautious," he shrugged "someone around here has to be," he directed at Nick.

Nick just smiled in a that's-why-you-love-me sort of way.

"Well I'm," Don started to introduce them though Jeff lightly cut across him

"I know," he said and listed off their names. "…right?"

"Uh- yeah," Razor said a little dumbfounded. He hadn't met this guy before, had he?

Jeff reached behind his back and pulled out the newly finished sia. He expertly flipped it in his hand and grabbed it by the longest prong, holding it out to Raph. "And like Sharp said, I guess I should apologize for taking what's yours but I noticed you only had one and I needed a model."

Raph accepted the weapon, looking it over, twirling it in his hand. Though he would never admit it, he was both impressed and thankful.

To the side Stripes was curious about the robotics that was fused to flesh. "Hey," he said. "What happened to…" he touched his own arm.

"What this?" Jeff asked looking down at the fake limb. "It's the reason I told _someone_" he glanced at Nick "not to eat the purple fruit. I'll explain inside, it looks like Tyler neglected to get Skyler from her room."

"I thought it was Nick's turn," Tyler quickly passed on the blame.

Jeff moved towards the main tree house lift. "Beside the point, Tyler," he said over his shoulder.

...---...

_We're thankful that you found Sharp, _Psych said as he shook left hands with Jeff after Skyler was found tiredly sitting at the end of a bridge and carried to her wheelchair. Everyone had been gathered at the last island native to finally show his face. Even Sharp had made it though it looked like he should have stayed in bed. His skin had gone from healthy grey to a sickly paper white and he was keeping a bucket close to his side at all times.

"Me too," Jeff said when they released hands. He stepped back and hopped up to sit on the counter that wrapped around the wide tree trunk. Skyler didn't have the authority to tell him not to sit on it; he was the one that had built it. "Half this place wouldn't be standing if I didn't have an extra set of hands, and the island was starting to get lonely after I left the volcano."

"How'd you escape?" Dev asked curiously.

"I didn't escape," Jeff shook his head "I quit."

A confused silence filled the air that was eventually broken by Razor asking "What do you mean you 'quit'?"

Jeff took in the looks he was getting. "Oh, I see what you're thinking. I'm not what you think I am, I'm natural, born in a hospital human," he said and looked at his right arm "or mostly anyway."

"Wait, that doesn't make sense," Don protested. "You've been on this island for over twenty years; if you are human you should be an old man."

"Oh I know," Jeff said. "See, being one of the scientists-"

"_What?!_"

Psych lounged back in one of the salvaged airplane chairs. _Guys let him finish_, he said coolly.

"Yeah, we were weary too when we found out," Tyler said.

"Yes, I was a scientist," Jeff openly admitted. "But I was mostly the one making the weapons not gene splicing, though I knew a bit out genetics. I joined up almost as soon as I got out of college; my step-dad had worked in the Labs so it was kind of in the family. I tried to ignore everything that was you guys when I got here, my life was surrounded by robots; what I could build. I was doing what I loved with unlimited resources, but my conscious eventually caught up with me so I quit. One thing that's never mentioned though is there's no leaving once you join. I had three options: shut up and swallow my sense of right and wrong, death, or test my survival skills. I think it's obvious which one I picked."

"That still doesn't explain the age of your appearance," Don pointed out.

"Like I said, I knew a bit about genetics. Before I set fire to my white coat I played around with the computers, it was a little project I had been thinking about after I learned how the experiments couldn't age. Like, the scientific Holy Grail. It turned out that your genetic structure isn't missing a gene; the scientists had unknowingly created a new one. You think they would have noticed. So, with a lot of looking over my shoulder, I figured out how to isolate the gene said 'what the hell' and injected myself with it. Whoo that was a rush, lost uh… twelve years I think? Lucky me there weren't any major side effects. When that was done I destroyed my research about the gene of eternal youth, grabbed my faithful toolbox and walked right out the door. No one tried to stop me, how could an engineer survive out here where there aren't any plug-ins?"

"So what happened to your arm?" Gorf asked.

Jeff looked down at his metal part and tightened a screw he noticed with his fingers. "Those guys under the volcano must have realized that I was starting a good life by myself in the trees, had a shelter near water and everything so their head man decided to put a little test out. He likes to…" he faltered to think of the right word "_play_ with things, not destroy them, just tinker. Anyway, one day I noticed this weird purple fruit growing on some of the trees. There were scraps on the ground where animals had dug into them so I figured they were safe, maybe just something I never noticed before. So I tried a few, liked 'em, packed some up and went home. The next day the taste turned on me and I threw them in the corner. Three days later something was wrong with me, I knew it when I was having trouble standing up. The damn fruit was the only thing within reach and I had to eat it or starve. Half way through the first one I started to feel better. It wasn't until a few weeks later when I was continuously falling ill and feeling better after having some of the fruit that I realized I had poisoned myself. It was made obvious when my arm changed colors and once a month I completely lost feeling in it. I couldn't risk being on my own in a place like this with only one arm at certain times, so I started making a blade from the metal of the rare shipwreck, using the rest to start making the basic design of a robotic arm. Halfway through the process I was out hunting when _this _whack job" he indicated Sharp "practically knocks me down running from snakes."

"Hey those things were huge," Sharp said. "And you ran too."

"Anyway" Jeff continued "after we lost the snakes we explained ourselves and we made a deal."

"That was so unfair…" Sharp muttered shaking his head.

"What was it?" Mikey asked.

"When the blade I was making was sharp enough, he cuts off my arm and I let him stay with me."

"And I still can't believe I agreed to it."

"Gross," Gorf and Mikey said together.

"He was perfectly fine with it," Sharp said pointing accusingly. "He strapped himself down! I tried to talk him out of it but there's just no reasoning with this guy once his mind's made up."

"You know my mom used to say the same thing…"

"So what happened to your eye?" Raph asked.

"My eye is the reason I don't go hunting with these two anymore," Jeff said, pointing at Nick and Tyler. "I kept telling them to look before they strike but they just don't listen. One minute I'm ducking a blow from some humongous killer hornet because we disturbed the nest, next thing I know there's a flash of movement, I'm swearing and can't see, Nick's apologizing so fast I don't even know what he was saying and Tyler… I don't know what Tyler was doing."

"I was busy trying to get your guys' asses out of there before we had the humiliating death of becoming bug food," Tyler said.

Gorf was about to ask how he managed to make the eye when he felt something tickling his arm. When he looked down he found a small black spider maneuvering across his skin. With a jump and a squeak he quickly brushed it off in surprise. Arachnids: don't like 'em.

The spider hit the floor and quickly righted itself. At the sight of the thing Jack quickly changed from sitting beside Sharp to sitting on Sharp. Raph unnoticeably pressed himself deeper in his seat, which was a nice, safe distance from the disgusting, hairy creature. Tyler grabbed his crossbow and took aim.

As if knowing it was being targeted the spider quickly scuttled to the side to let the arrow sink into the floor with a harmless _thunk_. It ran in circles as at least five more arrows appeared sticking out of the floorboards. From there it shot off to get out of the open and quickly changed directions when an ax blade suddenly appeared out of nowhere. Nick huffed with crossed arms. The spider ran for the other side of the room only to have a shoe suddenly slam down on it. Dev slowly lifted his footwear up to see the spider quickly continue on its way having been saved by the crevices on the sole of the shoe.

Psych watched the spider narrowly avoid the numerous attempts at its life. He'd seen that spider before, he knew it. But a lot of spiders looked the same to him, what were the odds it was the same one that had bit him?

The spider narrowly missed another shoe, this one controlled by Bomber. He smacked the ground six times with his hand in his shoe but each time the spider managed to dodge. "God- damn- _bug_!"

"Technically it's in arach-"

"Shut up Gorf!"

"Oh for the love of…" Alex said, getting up. Moving slowly, she went up to the spider then quickly dropped to her knees and cupped her hands over the tiny creature. Carefully maneuvering her hands she managed to lift her hands from the floor with the spider scuttling around between her palms. "Hey Raph, wanna see?" she suddenly asked taking a step towards the turtle, thrusting her hands out.

"Nah I saw the thing fine from over here," Raph said making to quickly get up.

"Oh come on Raph," Mikey said with a big smile. "It's just a little harmless spider."

"Yeah, you're not scared, are ya?" Alex asked.

"_No!_"

"You answered that a little quickly," Don said with his own smile.

"I'm not scared of some stupid bug!" Raph exclaimed in defense of his macho-ness.

Alex took another step forward. "Then you won't mind looking at it," she said, opening her hands up to show the arachnid. As soon as she gave the spider the opportunity it scuttled across her palm and raced over the tough black skin, passed onto the vulnerable white skin and bit down. "Ow!" Alex winced, slapping a hand onto her arm but the spider managed to jump off before it was squashed and landed on the ground where it zoomed off only to be crushed under a green, webbed foot.

"Ow!" Gorf exclaimed quickly picking his foot back up to hold in his hands, hopping up and down on one leg. "That spider's pointy!"

"Pointy?" Don repeated. "It can't be pointy; spiders don't have bones or anything like that."

"Well something stuck me!" Gorf complained holding his foot up trying to see if anything was stuck in the skin.

From his spot on the counter, Jeff looked at the small crushed body that used to be the spider. The iris of his robotic eye swiveled and clicked allowing it to zoom in on the corpse to find a surprise that wasn't all that shocking. "Uh, you might want to double check for me," he said "but that spider had a metal skeleton."

"Really?" Gorf asked seeming to forget about his foot and got down on his hands and knees to investigate.

"Do you guys have a magnifying glass or something?" Don asked.

"Yeah," Skyler said and pointed to one of the shelves. "It should be over there beside the slingshot."

Don retrieved the glass and kneeled down beside Gorf. Sure enough they found sharp metal points protruding from the black skin of the squashed spider. Tiny sparks had started to jump from the corpse. "It's a robot," Don confirmed.

Psych covered his face with a hand. "Oh no."

"It's a robot and it bit Alex," Dev felt the need to say the obvious. "Why is this _not_ surprising, I mean at all?"

"Because the world hates us," Alex said as she inspected the bite mark. It was already starting to redden and grow itchy.

"H-hey Psych," Razor said "how exactly were you injected with mutagens again?"

Alex didn't need Psych to answer. It wasn't surprising in the least. With a huff she turned to a doorway and started to walk away.

"Where you going?" Mikey asked.

"I'm not going to go through a second mutation, I'm gonna go kill myself."

"Alex come on," Leo said. "It can't be that bad."

The girl continued to walk away.

"Peh, she's bluffing," Raph said.

The bat had left the room.

There was a moment of silence before Psych quickly got up and ran after the younger experiment. _Alex, get back here!_

* * *

It is true I am still alive! I just had this nasty time of writer's block and then the holidays came... yeah, but I finally got this chapter done, and I have to say that even though the first story had a slow moving plot this one's gonna be longer! ...weird.

(sigh) poor Alex, I just can't leave her alone. Oh and we finally got to meet Jeff! Who would have thought that an asshole scientist would actually be helping the experiments! O_o Though Jeff isn't really a scientist, he's really just an engineer that payed some attention during biology. Though he was an experiment too, didn't ya? You have to pay more attention to what I do and don't actually say. ^_^

Oh by the way, I've been going over the old chapters and stuff (becuase I'm weird like that) and I feel the need to apologize for my spelling and grammar mistakes, I feel so stupid with them there, but it'd be too much of a hassle to take the chapters down, correct the mistakes and put them back up, so I'm just going to say sorry for those time you probably had to reread a couple times before you knew what I was actually saying.

REVIEW!!!!


	29. Just One Step

**Chapter Twenty-Eight**

**Just One Step**

It wasn't much a search, by following the mind Psych knew exactly where she had gone, but unlike her he had to actually run there. Yes he had longer legs all those stairs were still tiring. Finally he stumbled onto the platform with the railing where Dev, Mike and Nick had fallen from and landed in the lake so far below. It was the highest point that could be reached inside the slice of civilization.

Underneath the red sky Alex stood on the railing, wings held in under her shirt, peering down. All it would take was one step and no wings. It almost happened once before, there won't be any more fear in it. Just one step.

"Al… ex" _you can't give up not now._

"Oh yeah? Then when? When will it all be over?" Alex asked over her shoulder.

"I…" _I don't know. But that's all the more reason not to quit. See your life through, beginning to end the way it was supposed to go, don't cut yourself off short._

"Who's to say this _is_ how it's supposed to end?"

_No life is supposed to end in a suicide._

"And where's that in the rule book?"

_Listen to yourself! I remember when you first showed up. So full of energy, ready to take on anything… it was how you were built. The rules had been downloaded into your mind from the beginning but your personality got in the way. I'm not sure if you still do, but I remember one day, you had just come back from your first major punishment, unconscious, for breaking the rules and attacking a scientist - almost took off his leg. You woke up because of a nightmare and you sat up so fast you practically jumped off the floor. The _first_ thing you said after your heart slowed was "I'm getting out of here, I'll have my freedom"-_

"-and nothing's gonna stop me," Alex finished in a mutter.

_You never quit, _Psych continued _so why stop now, when we're so close? I can feel it in the bottom of your mind; you don't want to do this._

Suddenly the heavy thumping of footsteps could be heard coming up the stairs.

"Alex wai- ow!"

Psych turned to see Michelangelo sprawled on the floor. Razor came up next only to trip on Mike's leg and fall on top of him. The two quickly got to their feet and moved just as the three turtles and Splinter come up the stairs.

"Alex, stop," Leo said when he saw her standing on the rail.

"I'm not moving."

"You don't want to do this," Don added.

"Psych already beat ya to that line," Alex said as she continued to look down at the drop to the ground. She couldn't turn around; to turn around was to look at those that were the closest people she had to a family. "And why shouldn't I?"

"Because it's reckless, and it won't solve anything," Leo's voice came first.

"It'll solve my problems right quick."

"There's a difference between solving a problem and ending it, Alex," Don said. His tone wrenched at her heart, it was so close to pleading. "Please, don't do this. We can think of something- _anything_, some kind of better alternative."

"What are you so afraid of?" Razor asked, quietly taking a cautious step forward. "What could possibly be pushing you towards this?"

"I can't go through last time," Alex answered. "Not again."

"Alex, I've been through it, it's not that bad… you'll live through it, I know you will."

Alex continued to look down. _My shoe's untied… _She blinked and kept looking: all those stories between her spot and the Earth. It wasn't half the fall she made the other day, and the branches would surely get in the way, but maybe the branches would make it even quicker. And if not, and she managed to hit the ground broken, but breathing, her tail was always sharp and no healing ability could fix the throat fast enough. But then, why wasn't she doing that in the first place? It would be faster, wouldn't it? Just a quick slice, yet one step forward and there would be not turning back. Down there, in the branches, there wouldn't be enough room to unfurl her wings. That's all it would take, no thinking, just a step.

With a shaking breath she said "That's the problem Razor. I know I will too."

Though he hadn't been there, Splinter had heard the stories of his sons' time spent in the so hated Labs. He could recall a supposed hidden expression that the girl had held when he had heard of the mutation that happened while they were in captivity, how she had turned on not only an elder and an ally but a defenseless child and one she deeply respected. The expression: guilt, shameful guilt. "Alexandra," he said in the calm tone he had a tendency to adopt when trying to sway his children to the right (though usually not easy) choice. "I am sure you are thinking of the future, about what might happen, but you are not looking from all the angles. It is impossible to be certain of what will happen, and though you are undoubtedly trying to protect the ones you love you are doing no one here favors by taking your own life. Though it will be tough, it is better to find out what will happen rather than killing yourself on what you think _might_ happen."

_I couldn't have said it better myself, _Psych told as his fingers twitched. Half of him wanted to just run up there and yank her down while the other half (the older half) held back in fear of her taking the plunge before he got within reach.

Unseen to those behind her, Alex's mouth twisted uncomfortably. What had been said was true, she knew. But she couldn't trust herself to take the chance. Rogue mutations practically never went well, especially on soldiers trained for combat. She had barely made it through the first one with her sanity, how would she be able to handle a second? If she let the mutation get the better of her and the first time repeated itself by someone able to bring her back in control but it had been too late for someone else… how could she live with herself with their blood on her claws?

The more she thought about it the more the hard, immovable Earth started to feel more and more inviting. Barely thinking about it she shifted her weight, a foot slowly lifted up. _Just one step…_

Mikey shook his head, he couldn't take it anymore. "We're serious!" he cried. "You can't do this, not that you shouldn't, you just _can't_. Why do you get off easy? What about us, before we met you?!" he exclaimed, recklessly throwing his arms out wide to indicate himself and his brothers. "You think we had it easy? To be a kid in a world that hated you as soon as they saw you and not knowing why. To live in hiding for our own safety from the start, yes we had each other and a loving parent and I know you didn't but we all have our problems! You can't give up not now because- because- because it's _not fair_!"

Alex didn't move, didn't say anything. She remained frozen in place, dangerously balancing with only one foot on the narrow beam. By this time she could feel a heavy feeling in the pit of her stomach, knowing the dangerous genes were forcing themselves into, and changing her DNA, quickly multiplying, just waiting to turn on all together and do their worst. _Can I really do this to them? _she wondered miserably. _But can I really let them face what I'll become?_

Raph couldn't stand by here and watch this without trying his luck. "Kid listen ta us, if I'm understandin' correctly yer doing this because you're gonna be mutated again, and yer prob'ly thinkin' 'bout what happened las' time. I get it, yer protecting what you can call family, I know I'd do anything ta protect mine. Bu' what I don' get is this: back then, when ya finally came clean abou' what ya were you were callin' yerself a coward fer leaving yer friends behind fer yer own freedom, but you were gonna go back. That wasn' cowardice, it took guts to stay in New York 'til you had a plan ready to bring everyone else topside. Ya could of run, hid, forget all about 'em, but ya didn't. Ya stayed close and planned. But this… this is what a coward would do, and the Alex I know, the one me and Mike met in tha' ally two years ago, she ain't no coward. Secretive, yeah, but coward? Never."

Alex remained still. It was as if she had been turned into a well painted statue. Moments passed as nothing moved, waiting with bated breath for what will happen next.

Suddenly, though, much like Psych, he wanted to rush up their and yank her down by the tail, Razor's legs buckled and he hit his knees. "Alex," he said with a closing throat and swallowed before his voice cracked. "Please, whatever happens, _anything_, we can take it. We haven't gotten this far without something happening, something going wrong and hurting. It doesn't matter what you do or turn into, we can handle it, we'll forgive you, I promise." As he spoke a shining streak had already appeared on his left cheek. "Just _please_, don't do this. You can't leave again."

With a stomach being pushed into her legs and a heart twisted in knots, Alex swallowed as she put her foot down, still refusing to face them. "Guys," she started solemnly. "Thanks, it means a lot, really. But I don't know. I just…" Her back slowly straightened as she lifted her gaze up towards the red horizon. "I just…" She breathed in, her mind made up. "I just can't trust myself."

Then, before anyone could move, Alex took the one step.

* * *

The End.

No I'm kidding, I'm kidding! A move of cowardice? Loyal protection? I guess it depends on how you look at it. But yes, if it is no obvious enough: Alex had just willing stepped off of the tallest possible location in the tree house community, which is pretty tall considering its at the top of an old tree.

I know this is pretty short, but hey, short chapters a little rare for me at the time. So here ya go, enjoy, wonder, tell me how heartless I am, ect. And please remember to:

REVIEW!!!


	30. The Need to Know The Need to Go

**Chapter Twenty-Nine**

**The Need to Know**

**The Need to Go**

The shock was possibly the worst part as they stood there, staring at the empty space as if, somehow, they waited long enough she'd come back. Or one of them would just wake up in bed, or jolt awake from dozing. But at the same time the longer they stood there the more it came to realization that no matter how long they waited nothing was going to change. She had stepped right off the edge, followed by the sound of breaking branches, and that was that.

The seconds silently ticked by until Razor couldn't take it anymore. With a wet sniff he stumbled to his feet and ran tripping and stumbling down the stairs. Working his way to the lowest tree house he zoomed past a wondering Dev and leapt over a confused Gorf in his haste. He had to be sure, he had to know that this was real, was final.

He managed to find his way down to the kitchen hut and jumped to the ground from there. He landed painfully and ungracefully in a bush. He fought to his feet and looked up at the overhead branches, trying to map out where the platform would be way up there.

If his directional skills were right he found the foot of a tree that was underwater, the trunk going down into the deep part of the lake. Ripples pulsed out across the surface of the water.

He looked around, turning in circles in search for a body. When he couldn't find one he dove into the lake. The bottom of the lake was dark and cool, covered with muddy muck and mossy rocks - but no body.

Going back to the surface he looked around again. Was this the right tree?

_Yes, it should be._

Razor pulled himself from the water to face Psych. As far as he figured there was no body, which could mean something if he dared be hopeful. "Psych?"

Psych found it hard to meet the boy's eyes, black windows that showed a trusting, vulnerable soul. What could he say - what _should _he say? Lie-filled comforts and false hopes? Hard, crushing truths? The fact that he didn't have all the answers? Could he really push Razor through the thoughts of another loss? How could a guy take it? Every time he lost someone close they turned out to still be out there, will it be the same this time? Or is this death final? Psych wished he could find a definite answer but as he looked for Alex's mind he couldn't find it. No mind, but no body either.

_Razor, I…_

Stepping forward, Razor stopped him. "Psych, please, tell me straight. I don't care what it is, I just want the truth."

Psych continued to look down at (what he considered to be) the youth. It felt like what he does and doesn't say will make all the difference. He found himself at a rare loss for words.

The silence in his head was just as bad as not knowing for sure. Suddenly Razor broke forward and thunked into Psych, wrapping his wet arms around the thin body, pushing his face into the elder's shirt. "Please," he breathed miserably "don't make me go through this again if I don't have to."

Psych frowned. _I… I'll tell you truthfully. _He heard Razor suck in a breath and hold it. _I don't know. Her… body should have landed here but, as you can see… but at the same time I can't find her mind._

"C-can someone block you out?"

_I guess it's possible, never happened before, but possible._

"Then that could mean…?"

Psych pulled the arms off of him and kneeled down, clasping Razor's shoulders. _Listen to me. I'm hopeful just as much as you are, but I don't want you to get your hopes up too high, be careful in what you think you know._

Razor hung his head. "I know."

Psych straightened up, though he kept a comforting hand on Razor's shoulder. "Co_m_e on, we can as_k_ Dev to look thr… thr… _through_ the treez for a sign, or someti- thing."

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By the time they found Dev the recent event had been solemnly explained. Jeff had disappeared, Jack was hugging Nick while Sharp had gone to empty a vomit-filled bucket by a mushroom patch in the farther reaches of the place they called home. Gorf had become fidgety with the news and Bomber merely shook his head with two hands stuck down his pockets, the other arms crossed while Skyler sat quietly by the computer, Stripes doing the same across the room. The tiger shark hadn't really known Alex very well, but the death of a fellow experiment was a big thing nonetheless.

Dev agreed to the search though he looked reluctant, secretly afraid of what he might find. Tree branches mixed with gravity could have some nasty outcomes. The agreement was the reason Dev was jumping from branch to branch, scanning every direction in search of a color change from the usual green and brown.

Ten minutes later he was getting confused when he couldn't find anything, he had even went to the high platform and climbed downward. Then, just as he was about to quit, he finally found the change of color he was looking for. Slowly, he approached it, having to climb down two branches and over three more. When he finally got to it he sighed and pulled the shoe from the branches where it was hanging by a lace beside a piece of torn denim.

"Alex," he muttered, sitting on the branch, turning the shoe over and over in his hands. "What have you done?"

He looked around. It didn't make sense, where was the body? When something falls it hits the ground, not vanishes. Something clicked in his mind. "Or it doesn't fall at all," he whispered. "Damn it Alex," he quietly huffed and jumped through the branches until he hit one of the bridges. He needed to speak with Psych over a birdbrain theory.

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Psych sighed after Dev gave his idea. _I wouldn't put it past her to tell the truth._

"That's my point," Dev said as he sat in private with the old experiment. "Take it from the view of another flier; it's in our nature not to willing hit the ground from a lethal height if we can help it. Suicide by falling from the top of a tree is near mentally impossible, instinct wouldn't allow it. And besides, you'd think we would be able to at least find the battered remains."

"I can see your poin_t_," Psych replied. "But don'_t _mensio- mensio- _mention _this _t_o anyone ye_t_, I don'_t_ wan_t_ Razor _t_o have any false hopes, I'm not shi- sure how he would take being wrong eiter- eite- _either_ way."

Dev nodded. "Understood."

"The same goes for you," Psych directed towards the door of his room. _If you don't mind, Master Splinter._

The old rat came into view. "I am sorry for eavesdropping, I was just passing by."

Psych shook his head. _It doesn't matter, nothing's for sure, just theories, and if it was truly private we wouldn't be speaking aloud. I just don't want Razor to hear and take thing's the wrong way. Through his life he has lost Sharp, Alex and countless other friends that fell in the time of the Labs. And since Sharp turned out to still be alive, and the same with the first case of Alex's supposed death, I don't want him to become too hopeful now only to be crushed later._

Splinter nodded. "Sadly I must agree. It is better to be wrong about a death then wrong about a remaining life. I will not mention it to him."

Dev turned back to Psych. "I still want to take someone out there, early morning maybe, and do a vague search. Just a small perimeter - you know, just to fix my curiosity. Alex was ment for ambushes and night operations, even if her mind changes she'd still be drawn to dark places or well hidden tree branches close to the ground."

Psych shook his head. _I'm glad you want to look, but I can't let you. None of the one's that know the island are well enough to be a guide for you, and if she is out there her decision has a reason that's hard to see, she wishes to be alone and we need to respect that decision, no matter how much we disagree with it._

Splinter solemnly nodded in agreement.

"Fine," Dev huffed. Why did he care anyway? They didn't have much in common, the freaking skin flap… Though he did wonder how she had always managed to just disappear.

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Since her early years, Alex had near perfected the art of disappearing without much of a trace. It wasn't that hard; you just had to know where you were going quietly and know when _no one_ was looking your way when you took your leave.

At the moment Alex was trying hard not to think about what she was doing, trying to block out what was trying to be said behind her.

"I just… I just… I just can't trust myself." It was a fight against instinct to keep her wings safely in during the fall. The sound of breaking branches filled her ears while sharp twigs and bark grabbed her clothes and scratched exposed skin. Sh went straight through the smaller branches until the thicker one started to hold against her weight until one huge branches was positioned just right that it hit her square in the spine, she banged the back of her head and was suddenly not moving. The hit sprung hot tears of pain while she sat there watching the stars dance.

It only took a few moments before the minor scratches were gone and she noticed her foot was getting cold.

_I'm not dead… _**CRAP!! **_I have to get out of here fast._

She quickly got up from the branch and silently jumped through trees to the very back of the collection of tree houses, passed Nick's twisted room-holding tree, hesitated for a second to grab her stomach from a shot of hot pain and quickly jumped the wall. Ninja training and jumping the New York City rooftops had made the quick and quiet movements near second nature, even if this time it was during the day. Though her lands still needed some work.

She hit the ground with a stumble, made a sloppy running jump and spread her wings, dodging three trunks left and right until a shooting pain tensed her muscles and she hit the ground, sliding on her shoulder before finally tumbling to a complete stop.

She tried to get up with a pain filled groan but tripped and hit the dirt clutching her stomach.

At first she tried to fight it, maybe if she held on to what she was nothing would change - except for maybe a black eye Razor will undoubtedly give her for dying a second time and then showing back up perfectly fine. It was too bad that once an organism is injected with mutagens there's just no stopping it. Alex eventually realized this through the thought-stopping pain and just let it go its course.

Maybe, if she was lucky, she'd still know her own name come nightfall.

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The next three days were awkwardly spent with Razor sitting miserably at the bottom of the lake, Sharp sitting with him after he finally stopped puking. Gorf was continuously wandering the tree houses; he could also be found hanging upside down from a tree branch, hugging his knees. Psych continuously wore himself out by practicing his new found telepathy abilities, trying to strengthen his mind in that aspect. The ninjas tried to keep their minds busy by sparring down in front of the main tree house, Dev, Bomber and even Stripes joining for something to do. They were having a hard time accepting what they thought to be fact but it made everything seem worse when they were sitting still, allowing them to think like they could have done something to change things.

Noticing during the fighting, Jeff had asked Don why he didn't have a weapon. Don had explained what happened to his Bo staff and hadn't seen Jeff since.

During the small battles Stripes got knocked flat on his back. "God!" he exclaimed through his hands. He sat up, uncovered his mouth and spat on the ground. A yellow triangle fell to the ground in a string of blood. "That wasn't even loose yet!" Stripes yelled, pointing at the tooth.

"I said no more punching of mouths," Splinter reminded sternly.

"Not my fault his mouth was there," Bomber said crossing his top arms, his bottom arms already restricted to being tied behind his back for unfairly holding his partner/victim's hands down so they couldn't block. It had become known that what the explosive specialist lacked in fighting knowledge he made up for in harmful enthusiasm - and he had a hell of a right hook.

"That's what you said last time," Dev growled, still able to taste the blood in his own mouth.

"You socked me first," Bomber replied sharply.

Dev opened his mouth to retort when he was cut off by Nick yelling "Get back here, its _MINE_!" quickly followed by Tyler appearing from the trees, zigzagging around the trunks with a battered metal tin in his hand and a heated panther hot on his heels.

When he could, Nick tackled him, sending the two rolling across the ground and the tin went skittering out of reach.

The two guys wrestled, each trying to get their hands on the tin before the other. Mickey walked over and picked it up. It was the tin of peanut butter with 'NICK' written on the lid.

Nick managed to get to his feet and swiped the tin from Mike and made to run off when Tyler grabbed his ankle, tripping him. Tyler stumbled up and grabbed the peanut butter only to have Nick pounce on his back.

"Give it!"

"I don't have to!"

"It's _mine_!"

"Not today!"

"Says what?!"

"Birthday law!"

The two stopped their wrestling for a moment, Nick temporarily pinning Tyler to the ground. "Isn't your birthday tomorrow?"

"No asshole, it's the hundred-and-seventieth day of the year today.

"Well… _you still can't have it!_"

"What are you guys talking about?" Dev asked.

Tyler skillfully kept the peanut butter out of Nick's grasp as he explained. "It's a thing that Jeff made up. He wanted to celebrate birthdays, but since we can't exactly do anything with presents there's the birthday law, on the day of your birthday you get to do whatever the hell you want and no one can stop you, _Nick_! And since there's really no way to tell what the date is we just count the number of days from one to three-sixty-five, mine is one-seventy which is today. So by the birthday law…" He kicked Nick off of him and jumped up, sprinting to the lift he turned it on, waving the tin at Nick as he rose in the air. "This is now _mine_!"

"Oh come on!" Nick yelled. "You only want it _because _its mine!"

"Yep!"

With a small growl Nick ran to the base of the tree. Since the lift was already well out of reach he had to scale the trunk scraping his hands and boots on the rough bark in order to resume the chase.

With numerous shaking heads the group still on the ground went back to their sparring, though one of them was looking up at the sky thoughtfully.

"Hey Don, what day of the year is my birthday?"

"Not for a couple more months, Mike."

...---... ...---... ...---... ...---... ...---... ...---... ...---...

**GAME OVER** was flashing across the screen followed by a loud, drawn out groan of frustration. Why was it so freaking hard to defeat the Lord of the Underworld when you got him outnumbered seven-to-one? But then again he did cheat by being able to strike twice in one round, and there was that stupid fire breathing attack that took half the life of every character he had, and then there was the white mage that was practically impossible to keep alive.

"This game's rigged," George mumbled. He had spent the last thirty-two hours trying to beat the game, avoiding the temptation of hacking into the system of the game and using the ultimate cheat codes. It wouldn't be that hard, but then he wouldn't have the same feeling of accomplishment when he finally watched the last scene.

With a huff he turned the game off, tapped the wireless keyboard that was sitting in his lap, unwrapped a root beer-flavored sucker to pop in his mouth, and picked up a joystick controller.

Outside a small rock moved to the side to allow a tiny robot the size of a fly zoom out into the open air. It moved around haphazardly, the little invention seemingly unable to fly in a straight line no matter how much George fought with the controls. From its backside a small flame shot out to propel it forward at such speeds that birds squawked in surprise when it passed.

Moments later George was looking at a camera feed on his computer screen that showed the group of AWOLs scattered in their home in the trees. Most of the New Yorkers were out in the courtyard area, Nick was chasing Tyler through the numerous tree houses, Psych was lounging on a large rock beside the lake, and Skyler was updating logs on that computer of theirs. It was interesting really; he had hacked into the computer a few times out of curiosity. It was mostly full of detailed lists of the creatures that inhabited the island, the inhabitants' birthdays, a day-by-day log telling of the events in their usually uneventful lives… and other rather useless pieces of information. Though there was a program that Skyler was trying to create that would hack into the computers of the Labs underneath the volcano so she could take out the force field that encased the island. It was a project that had taken years and was yet to be completed. George wasn't necessarily worried about it and he wasn't going to stop her, he found it interesting how the experiment was taking matters into her own hands in trying to get them true freedom.

The robot buzzed around the tree houses for a while, finding that it couldn't locate three bodies: the twins, and that Alex-girl.

Giving up the search for the missing bodies, George realized something. Since Nick and Tyler had visited the sight of the wrecked plane, no one has been in the forest, and that meant that his trees have yet to become known. That wasn't fair, all that hard work going unnoticed? He would have to try and fix that.

"But how do I get them out there?"

The New York shark that had been around since before George had become head scientist came to mind. Over the years the guy had stolen thousands of dollars worth of both equipment and medical supplies, along with the occasional can of peanut butter. When supplies started to run low the experiment would undoubtedly make another trip to the volcano.

"But that could take months at the least," George muttered, snapping his fingers in frustration. He didn't want to physically force the group into the forest, for one: that would be too obvious, and two: it just wouldn't be fun to watch. Back in college he had minored in psychology because he liked to observe others' behaviors, see how they reacted to certain things. Maybe predict some things, but he mostly liked to set something up and watch the show from there. It was like he played the indirect roles in life, the unnoticeable start for near catastrophic chain reactions; for pocket money in college he had worked at a gas station selling everything from gas to beer. When he sold a pack of cigarettes to someone that would later became addicted to nicotine and would finally die of lung cancer he would, directly, have had nothing to do with the death, but at the same time he was the one that had opened the path to the potential cancer problem. He enjoyed this place in life, it was like everything was his doing yet at the same time nothing was actually his fault.

By the time he had gone through the sucker and was opening a new one to pop in his mouth an idea popped into his head. He thought it over, mentally went through the possible outcomes and eventually nodded with a growing smile. "Yeah… that'll work."

...---... ...---... ...---... ...---... ...---... ...---... ...---...

Don tallied it up in his mind as he lay in what had become his bed, the rising sun starting to brighten up the room. With a sigh he came to the conclusion: the plane crash had been eleven days ago, they had been on the island for basically a week and a half if he was counting right. He couldn't help but wonder what April and Casey were doing, if they were worrying about the group of mutants and experiments. For all they know him and the guys had gone to what was believed to be the new Labs and never came back. To them it must seem like their inhuman friends had just disappeared off the face of the Earth (it's happened before), or, with the experiments being exposed to the public, something truly horrible has happened. He felt a twinge of guilt about the thoughts that might be going through his friends' minds.

Then he really remembered that the experiments had been exposed to the public. He wondered what it was like for them. How many of them were captured? How many were homeless with seemingly no havens to turn to? How many had met their fate because most humans were afraid of what they didn't understand, and it was animal nature to either avoid what frightened you, or eliminate the supposed threat.

With a near depressed breath he looked around the room and felt guiltier. Here he was, safe in a warm bed, away from the world that would undoubtedly want them dead. It seemed like, as long as he stayed within the tree houses, nothing could get at him with harmful thoughts.

As he looked at the room, at the skillfully placed boards that seemed to hug the tree rather then just sit on it, he noticed the long, smooth, six-foot stick leaning against the wall. Jeff had made it, claiming he had been bored and needed to practice his carpentry anyway. If he really had been bored then he must have been miserable because he had even provided the purple wrap that went around the middle of the Bo.

With a soft sigh Don got up and grabbed the Bo staff. It was made of White Oak, nice and thick too for durability and strong attacks. Don weighed it in his hands before doing some of the simple drills that Splinter had put him through when he was handed his weapon for the first time: he had been five, attacking cotton-filled dummies with the plastic handle off of a discarded broom.

Across the way, in the small tree house directly opposite of Don's room Dev was already up and pacing. He couldn't understand it, what was wrong with him? Ever since he had talked to Psych about the possibility of Alex merely faking death he's had an urge to go and search. Maybe it was just his curiosity, or that he was tired of Alex always disappearing and only showing up again at her convenience. He knew it wasn't anything beyond that, in all the two hundred-something years of experiment existence there were no records of experiments being drawn to the opposite gender. There have only ever been friendly relationships, not sexual attraction.

Just the thought of it made him shudder. Him and _Alex_? It was more likely for the Earth to suddenly stop moving.

But no matter how much he wanted to just go out there, at least do a light search, Psych wouldn't let him. It's not as though Psych had physically held him down but his reasoning was only too… well, reasonable. Dev didn't know the island, didn't know what kind of creatures could be out there, and to have someone guide him through the forest means he would have to explain himself and he had promised not to mention his theory of the faked death to anyone - especially Razor.

Dev spent the morning trying to think of ways he could steal Nick, Tyler or even Sharp to take him out on the island without revealing his reasons when Sharp suddenly presented one.

It was around noon when Sharp appeared in the main tree house ticking things off of a notepad in his hand. He held a look of growing confusion and disbelief as he looked over the list.

"What's wrong?" Jack asked looking up at Sharp's expression.

Sharp shook his head. "I… I just don't get it," he said. "I went to the volcano not two weeks ago but…"

"But?" Jake repeated.

"It looks like we're running out of everything. Jeff doesn't have any nails or screws, spare clothes have suddenly disappeared, the soap in the bath hut is dangerously low, half of our knives in the kitchen are missing…" he listed off in total bafflement. "Not to mention the food supplies, I can't find any of the stored ropes and chains, all the buckets in the infirmary are gone along with all our bandages, a quarter of the first aid kits including the pain killers and disinfectants, all fuel tanks for the flamethrower are empty, our ammunition store for most of the weapons has been depleted to almost nothing even though there hasn't been a monster fight in a while…"

"Everything's gone?" Jack summed up.

Sharp rubbed his head trying to wrap his mind around it. "Practically, Jack. The food I can understand, but everything else? I… I just don't get."

"So what're you going to do?" Jack asked. Something had to be wrong, Sharp was supposed to understand everything. He fixed problems with Jeff not present new ones.

Sharp lightly ran his tongue over his teeth in thought. He couldn't tell Jack 'I don't know'; he had to think of something. For safety reasons possibly the best option was to go back to the volcano for the medicines that are too hard to get to out in the wild, especially the disinfectants, but he didn't like going over there in less then three month intervals.

Jack could read Sharp's expression. "You going back to the volcano?"

Sharp sighed. "I might have to. The way things are disappearing it's not safe with the possibility of something happening any moment."

"Like when that dragon-thing came here?" Jack asked with a small shudder.

"Yeah, like that. Or if anything else happens," he threw the notepad on the counter going around the great tree trunk and picked Jack up. Jack hugged him around the neck. "I just want us to have everything we need."

"You're all we need, Sharp."

Sharp made a small smile. "No Jack, we need a lot more than just me."

"Nuh-uh."

Sharp rolled his eyes and went to plop down on one of the leaf-filled bags after plucking one of the purple fruit from a low branch. Jack leaned back in Sharp's lap. "Does this mean you're gonna leave again?"

"It might, but I won't be long. I never am; two- three days tops," Sharp reassured as he nibbled on the fruit.

"Ya ever take anyone with?"

Sharp looked around to find Dev walking into the room. "Not really," he replied. "I usually leave Nick and Tyler to hold down the fort, Jeff doesn't get out much anymore, and Jack and Skyler weren't built for much field work. Why do you ask?"

"Because I'm dying here," Dev said. "Psych won't let me go out on my own, and I'm… the only flier now and if I try to take to the skies that dragon-thing will probably show up and try to take me down. I'm bored and restless and I feel like I need to be doing something instead of just wandering back and forth across these stupid bridges."

"You could try asking Nick to take you hunting."

"I'm not exactly the hunting type."

"Really, I would have never guessed."

"People would say I don't have the patience for it."

Jack suddenly mumbled something about the bathroom and disappeared. Sharp stood up. "Anyway, I don't know what to tell you, but I always go to the volcano alone."

"Hmph, sure," Dev said and walked out of the room. Stopping in the middle of the bridge he looked around. He had to think of something that would get him out there.

...---... ...---... ...---... ...---... ...---... ...---... ...---...

Nick yawned and looked down at Dev from his perch on the rock out in the sun. "The volcano?" he repeated. "Sharp only makes a couple of trips a year and even then he has that bloody one-or-none rule."

"One-or-none?" Dev asked.

Nick turned over to lay on his back, hands behind his head. "Yeah, it's what he said when me and Tyler tried to tail him out into the forest. Either he goes alone or he doesn't go at all - one-or-none. Why?"

"Well I was thinking," Dev started and paused out of habit, but Nick wasn't from the same Labs as him and didn't make any 'bird brain' jokes.

"What?" Nick asked at the pause.

Dev shook his head. "I was thinking about what Sharp said about the other experiments out there. Maybe we could urge them to come out here if there were more to guide them and stuff," he lied. "I mean, we managed a rebellion in New York and I'm sure there were more back there than there are under that volcano."

"Hm…" Nick closed his eyes. Though it looked like he was simply dozing he was thinking about the idea. He might be able to catch the bigger, tastier game if there were more hunters about. And it would be kind of fun to stick it to the scientists out there by letting the forces they had created loose and out of their control.

Dev was about to walk away thinking the human-panther had fallen asleep in the sun when Nick said "Interesting. Or maybe, while we're there, we could find a way to shut off that force field."

"Even better," Dev said, looking up at the red sky. He wondered why he hadn't thought of that excuse to start with.

Nick curled up on his side, tail twitching. "I'll talk to Tyler about it later," he said tiredly. "Sharp won't be going anywhere for a while."

What Nick said was true. It took Sharp another week and a half to decide that they were running out of things way too quickly to wait a couple of months before returning to the volcano. He didn't know where everything was going, but what he did know was that they were running dangerously low on most of the living essentials.

Nick managed to catch sight of him start to get the usual things together: a hunting knife, extra pants for the pits of quicksand, a mini first aid kit, a couple purple fruit… all going into the waterproof bag. Nick talked to Tyler and Dev who in turn spoke to Bomber and Stripes who relayed things to Raph. Gorf overheard the talk of taking down the force field and volunteered - he mostly just wanted to see what was generating such a thing. Then Gorf went to talk to Razor.

"Razor, this isn't healthy," Gorf was saying that night, putting a hand around Razor's shoulders as they sat beside the lake, their feet in the water. "I miss her too but you can't sit around doing nothing for the rest of your life, and that could be a long time, I mean look at Psych: he's over two centuries and says that since the mutation he's felt like he's fifty again. He probably has anther three-hundred years ahead of him before he starts slowing down like last time."

"What's your point?" Razor asked in the most depressed deadpan voice Gorf has ever heard.

"My point is you need to do something, get your mind off of things. Come with us and sneak after Sharp when he leaves," Gorf urged. "I'd think you of all people would want to follow him anyway. He's your long lost twin; I'd think you wouldn't let him out of your sight."

"Any other time I wouldn't," Razor said. "But it just seems like everybody always leaves."

"Then don't let Sharp slip away too," Gorf said. "Come with us, and who knows, we might need some machines ripped apart."

Razor was silent as he splashed some water with his foot. He rubbed his arm before finally saying "Okay."

* * *

Yes, there are large time gaps in this chapter. If you add everything together I think thats... three weeks? Somewhere around there. And I have finally taking the first step to finishing off this plot! Though don't worry, there are still going to be _plenty_ of twists. If that's a good or bad thing... I'll let you decide. (evil smile)

REVIEW!


	31. Beasts and Demons

**Chapter Thirty**

**Beasts and Demons**

"See ya Skyler," Sharp said as he went to the lift.

"Don't get eaten by anything!" Skyler called after him. Sharp waved the comment off. It was a joke, but at the same time there was a real warning behind it.

It was just before the crack of dawn. Skyler had stayed up as she always did to make sure he had grabbed everything he would possibly need out in the wild by himself.

He looked over his shoulder multiple times as he went to the gate. It wasn't unusual for at least one person to try and follow him. One time Jack had even tried when the little kid noticed that Sharp had suddenly disappeared without a trace. When he was at the gate he did a last scan over his shoulder before kicking the gate. The line of logs slowly moved to the side for him to walk by, the gate closing behind hind him. He wasn't sure how Jeff always knew when the gate needed to be open but the man never failed to pull the ropes.

Sharp only got a few feet before he whipped around at the sound of a sharp cough that was quickly cut off. After a long moment of not moving a muscle and straining his ears to best of their hearing ability he was finally satisfied in the idea that he was alone and continued on through the trees thinking he was probably imagining things. It was early after all.

Meanwhile, fifty feet up Raphael crouched on a tree branch behind the trunk, gripping a coughing Gorf to his plastron, hand firmly clamped over the boy's mouth to stifle any noise. When he deemed the coast to be clear he let go.

Gorf quietly finished choking putting a hand to his throat.

"Sh!" Raph hissed sharply.

"Sorry," Gorf croaked. "Mosquito scratched my throat on the way down."

"Quiet!" Nick whispered as he jumped on a branch near theirs. "If he catches us he'll walk us back."

Mikey stealthily followed as the panther moved on, though the blond ninja couldn't keep going without first saying "Yeah dudes keep it down, seriously."

...---... ...---... ...---... ...---... ...---... ...---... ...---...

A living organism can't survive long in a place where instincts rule without knowing when you are being followed. This fact wasn't easy to prove, but sharp knew it all the same.

After a small lunch of the purple fruit, the taste getting washed away by fish and river water, Sharp was getting fed up. Throwing the fish skeleton away he stood up and looked around. The leaves rustled overhead and a bird chirped. Shadows on the ground shifted as the wind moved the leaves. The river behind him murmured secrets while the trees before him stubbornly hid what didn't wish to be seen.

Sharp sniffed the air and strained his ears. He smelled… salty sweat… turtle… faint traces of peanut butter… Holding his breath he could hear breathing that was not his own, and the gulping sound of a suppressed burp.

It was obvious if a person knew the signs. The problem though, was catching them in the act. If he called out they'd just sit there as quietly as possible, if he tried to find them he doubted he could catch up to a ninja and Nick was better built for escaping through the trees anyway. He could just start heading back - but they needed things from the Labs.

With a huff he slowly picked the bag up, swung it over his shoulder and took off as fast as he could.

It was déjà vu of a nightmare he used to get right after meeting Jeff where he was running through the forest with an unseen monster right behind him If he looked over his shoulder he'd trip and get eaten, if he didn't run faster it'll still eat him! But this wasn't a dream and this time he was in control.

Up ahead a fallen log was blocking the path. He knew this log; he almost twisted his ankle when he first found it. Putting his hand on the log, he jumped over it, ready for the six-foot drop that followed right after. Hitting the ground he stumbled back and pressed himself against the wall of dirt, root and rock.

Only a few moments passed before he heard the sound of movement and watched the backs of Nick, Gorf, Mikey, Raph, Bomber, Dev, Tyler, Stripes and even Razor continue down the way.

_Oh you two are so dead… _Sharp thought towards Nick and Tyler as he quietly started to follow.

...---... ...---... ...---... ...---... ...---... ...---... ...---...

"Crap," Tyler said as he stopped.

"Can we… pause… a second?" Gorf whined from the trees, gripping his side.

Nick dropped down to the ground, sniffing the air. "Trail's cold."

"You lost him?" Mikey asked as he sat down on a branch.

"Told'ja you should'a let me lead," Raph said with crossed arms.

"He was right in front of us," Nick said with confusion, scratching behind an ear as he looked around for maybe a footprint or something.

"Well he's not anymore," Bomber said flatly.

Razor somberly turned around. "Let's just go back."

Dev caught him by the shoulders. "Oh no you don't you're too depressed to turn back. All you're gonna do is sit at the bottom of the lake like you have been for the past week and a half."

"Why do you care?" Razor quietly challenged.

"What, I'm not allowed to?"

"Not really."

Dev stood there a moment before simply pushing Razor back around and shoving him back to the group. "Just stay here."

"Well now what?" Tyler asked when something tapped his shoulder. He turned, hand reaching for his crossbow when he stumbled back at the sight of an irritated shark with crossed arms. "H-hi Sharp! Heh-heh…"

"_What_," Sharp started harshly "may I ask, are you doing out here in a large group, _Tyler_?"

Tyler backed up as Sharp took near threatening steps forward. "Uh- uh…" He looked around as if an answer was standing among them. He quickly pointed at Nick. Fast to pass the blame, Nick pointed at Dev, who balled up his fists at Nick.

Sharp huffed, "You know, forget it, I don't care. Just answer me this: you took most of the fighters from Base, leaving only, who- Leo, Don and maybe Jeff if anything might happen, right?"

"Master Splinter can fight," Mikey added.

Sharp ignored the blond while Tyler slowly nodded. "Why?" he demanded.

"Uh… N-Nick?"

Gorf jumped down from the branches to answer instead. "Because we wanna help. With all of us we could take over the Labs, take the force field down and stuff like that."

"Besides," Razor added quietly. "What if something happened to you?"

Sharp looked at the ground in the logic. He never thought about it that way. Since he always went to the volcano by himself there was a bigger chance of something catching hold of him and no one would ever know what happened. "Fine," he finally huffed. "At least you left Leo and Don I guess."

"I guess we shouldn't have followed then," a voice said from the way they had come. Turning, the group found Leo and Don standing there.

"What, did our invite get lost in the mail?" Don asked.

Sharp covered his face with a hand. With a sigh he started back for the tree houses. "That's it, we're going back."

_Don't blame them._

Sharp stopped. "Psych?"

The ancient experiment stepped out from behind a tree. "I _t_ried _t_o follow by me- myself, but these two wouldn't let me." _I'm tired of being left behind, and I agree with Gorf, with all of us we could end the scientists' reign on this island. Take the force field down, open more options for you and those living in fear._

Sharp's shoulders sagged in near defeat.

_And you don't have to lead us to our doom if you don't want to._

"What do you mean?" Sharp asked.

Psych smiled. "I know the way."

"No you don't, you've never been here before," Sharp lightly argued.

Psych's smile widened some. _I don't mean to be rude, and I respect privacy, but let me let you in on a little secret, Sharp. You are very protective of friends and at the same time you're very open-minded. _"So, with all do respect, you go back to Skyler and Jack if you wish, I'll lead the way."

"I liked it better when you slept all the time," Sharp commented.

"I know."

Sharp gave a defeated huff and turned around. Over his shoulder he said "Come on, if nothing happens we should reach the volcano before nightfall."

With smiles flicked here and there the group moved through the trees, Psych and Leo taking up the rear.

"Can you really just take information without people knowing about it?" Leo asked.

Psych nodded gravely. _Between you and me,_ he said privately. _I can do a lot more than that. I was first made to be a 'human lie detector' so to speak. Of course, I didn't need to tell if they were lying, I was supposed to just steal the information right from their mind. It was only a set back that physical contact was needed in order for my… er- _talents_ to work. Then, as time moves on skills sharpen, abilities grow and…_

"And?" Leo repeated questioningly.

Psych sighed. _If I so choose, I could kill anyone I've ever touched in my like without laying a single finger on them. I can do it slowly; tearing their mind apart piece by piece or I could simply shut their mind off all together with no more movement than a blink. I was to be the secret weapon; the last resort; the most lethal, but…_

"You're personality got in the way," Leo finished.

_Thankfully too. They tried to copy what they did but thankfully were all unsuccessful. But something tells me Ambrose has the ambition and the technology to do what earlier generations could not, and to have a man like that coupled with abilities like mine… If he ever finds out what makes me the way I am…_

"He won't, none of us will let him," Leo assured.

A feeling of agreement flashed through Psych's mind. He stopped suddenly, knowing that that hadn't been his feelings, but another's. While they talked the rest of the group had moved ahead so it couldn't have been any of them. A movement in the corner of his eye had him turn around but there was nothing to be seen aside from some leaves gently falling to the ground.

Leo looked behind them. "What is it?"

"Uh- eh… Nnnothing, th-thought I saw something. It's gone."

...---... ...---... ...---... ...---... ...---... ...---... ...---...

The trek across the outer part of the island had gone well enough. Now the group was walking across the bridge that went over the rapids. Tyler had finally replaced it a few days ago and had declared that not even the toughest, strongest tornado could put this bridge out of order.

As they continued the sun had started to sink in the sky.

"You know," Mike said while they walked. "This place, like, makes me think of Jurassic Park. I keep expecting a T-rex to suddenly show up."

"Hey, don't jinx it," Dev harshly. "That's the last thing we need."

"But I mean seriously, or at least a raptor," Mikey continued " andI can see one popping up like riiiiight… _now_!" He whipped around and pointed in some random direction. There was no T-rex to be seen but he wasn't entirely disappointed. "Whoa."

Standing there, between two thick tree trunks was a wolf. It looked full grown and was looking at them almost curiously.

"This is a bit early…" Nick muttered.

"No sudden movements," Leo advised as most of them slowly started to back up.

The wolf sniffed the air ad started forward, right towards Mikey who hadn't moved yet. The wolf circled around the near lone body, sniffing his legs. Eventually it backed up in front of Mike and sat down; looking at him like it was trying to figure out what he was. Slowly, Mikey crouched down offering his hand. The wolf sniffed the tips of his fingers. When it didn't try to bite him Mike turned his hand and went to pet the great dog when Leo made him jerk, hissing "Mike, get _away from that!_"

"Shouldn't it be more aggressive as an adult?" Don asked lowly.

"It will be when it _becomes_ an adult," Tyler replied.

"What?"

"That's a _pup_!" Sharp hissed.

Mikey fully froze where he crouched. "They get… bigger?"

Raph untrustingly looked through the trees. "Where's the rest of the pack?"

"Mikey, get over here," Leo ordered as they started to look around for the other wolves.

Gradually Mike started to straighten up when he froze again, barely balanced, for right where the wolf pup had first appeared another wolf was standing, but much, _much_ larger. It had to be the size of a small horse - a horse with fangs. Its muscles were tense beneath the masses of fur looking like it was waiting for just the right moment to attack.

"N-n-nice doggy…" Mikey practically whimpered.

The pup looked behind it at the adult, stood up, and trotted off.

"Mikey," Don whispered just barely loud enough for the youngest to hear. "Very slowly step this way, no sudden movements and keep your hands down."

"That's probably not a good idea," Dev said as he stepped back, bumping into Raph.

Quick glances around them showed that the rest of the pack had shown up. All of them were either the same size as the wolf staring Mikey down or slightly smaller. The humanoids were surrounded.

"Now what do we do?" Bomber asked.

"Only thing we can do," Leo said hands ready to reach for the handles of his swords. "Fight our way out."

"Heh, g-good luck with that," Gorf said with shaking voice and knees as he discreetly inched towards the very center of the group.

"We just need to get away," Don said quickly. "Wolves only take easy targets, if we can run long enough they'll give up."

"There's just one problem with that plan," Bomber pointed out. "Do you see an escape route here?"

The wolves all took a step forward causing the group to take a step back. The same motion was repeated. The predators were pushing the prey together and blocking off any escape at the same time.

"An idea would be really great about now," Bomber said.

"Yeah, tell me when you have one," Dev replied.

"Hey, I make _bombs_ not plans!"

"Wait a minute, I have an escape route," Dev noticed, wings twitching.

"If you even think about it I'll yank you back down by the feet, bird brain," Bomber threatened.

_Now isn't really the time, guys._

"They're probably going to pounce together," Sharp predicted. "When they do, scatter."

"Ung, dudes I wanna go home…"

A silent tension filled the air. The circle around the group of prey was almost complete. The first adult to appear was still a few steps back having been the farthest from the group to begin with. The great beast was about to finish the ring of fur and fangs when there was a sharp rustling of leaves and a dark shape fell from the branches overhead. It solidly hit the ground on sharp claws, bladed tail lashing out behind it while the large wings folded in. It straightened up to its full height of near six feet, large claws tense and ready to strike.

The wolf's grey eyes locked with the creatures red ones - a silent challenge being made. The wolf raised its haunches; the creature's bluish-black fur bristled. The wolf's lips curled back to reveal sharp fangs, the creature did the same. The wolf growled, the creature hissed. It was a stare down, an unseen battle of wills.

These wolves were no ordinary wolves and they knew when they would be outmatched.

With a loud bark that made at least Gorf jump, the wolf backed up and leapt to the right. The pack quickly followed.

The creature turned to the side looking the group up in down from the corner of its eye. Its large bat ears stood erect as a spark went off in the creature's mind but it wasn't the lucky spark that lit the fire. From this angle those looking in shocked disbelief could notice a pair of pants that had been shredded to near nothingness and a bloody shirt that had just enough durability in it to keep a female's (for that was the gender of the creature) modesty. The thing's short, bat-like snout twitched before it leapt behind the trees to the left and out of sight.

Mikey slowly lifted his hand to point at the now empty space. "Dude… tell me I'm not the only one thinking that that was…"

Sharp looked around as if he had just snapped out of a trance. "Where'd Razor go?"

Psych closed his eyes and reached his mind out. "This way," he said and headed through the trees to the left.

The run was more of a sprint than a chase. They hadn't gone a whole fifty feet before they found Razor sitting against a tree looking up at the branches of the tree across from him.

"Razor…!" Sharp huffed partly from the running, partly from protective annoyance.

Razor didn't move.

Sharp went forward and crouched down beside his brother. "Razor, don't do that, you have no idea what could be out here, and- Ra- Razor?" he asked waving a hand in front of the scarred experiment's face.

Razor just continued to stare.

Sharp turned to try and follow his gaze. Branches, leaves, twigs, darkening shadows and-

...---...

It was very frustrating, not only had it put itself in the way of another hunter but it had been followed by this- this- this _thing_ as well. And to top it off the thing was staring at it, the two locked in each other's gaze.

What did the thing want? The thing wasn't threatening, but the thing didn't look very appetizing either. It hadn't seen anything like the thing before; with its grey nearly bald skin with a nub of flesh with nostrils and a slit underneath instead of a snout and wore what looked like some kind of weird leaf on its head- or at least, it was green like a leaf…

It felt like it should know what the thing was but nothing was coming to the rather simple mind. It scratched its claws against the bark of the branch it was crouching on.

Suddenly more creatures appeared. They were of the same structure as the thing but very different in physical features and colors, except for one that looked very much like the thing.

The second thing went to the first, made some strangely familiar sounds, and eventually turned to look through the branches and vaguely found it hidden in the shadows.

It didn't like being found and the situation was only made worse when it was pointed out to the other creatures. With a twitch of its wings and sharp rustle of leaves the thing leapt to a better hiding spot. All animalistic reasoning was telling it to get out of there but something deep down was forcing it to stay and wait for something to happen – knowing something would happen.

The new hiding spot wasn't enough. The tallest creature, with something long and black and red colored wrapped around its neck, had followed it easily with the grey eyes. It moved again, but again the tallest followed it. Three new hiding spots later it was starting to believe that it was pointless to try and find a new spot. There was something about the tallest creature that gave incredible tracking abilities; not a good sign, but interesting all the same.

...---...

"What is it?" Gorf asked, watching Psych's expression go from determined to depressed.

"Not it," Psych muttered as he followed the creature with his eyes. It kept leaping to a new spot, going to darker shadows and denser branches, but never leaving. It was getting harder and harder to keep his eyes on the dark form because the sun was setting; night was just beginning to settle down on the land, deepening the shadows and blending shapes together.

"What do you mean?" Dev asked, trying to follow Psych's gaze but only found dark green and black leaves with patches of brown thrown in.

"I… I think Mike's right…"

"What? Really?" Mikey asked, astonished.

"Then that really is…" Dev started slowly, thinking _I knew it._

"Damn," Bomber stated simply.

Sharp helped Razor to his feet. Razor searched the branches until he finally spotted the dark mass that was becoming more and more blended into the shadows as the sun continued to sink. "Alex?"

...---...

Its ears twitched. _Al… ex… _The sounds were familiar, but it was the type of familiarity of déjà vu in a building you have never been to before. Knowing what was around every corner even though it was your first time to that location. To hear a sound that was so foreign, but at the same time so recognizable…

_Al… ex… Al… ex… Alex… __Alex… _The combination of the two sounds went round and round in its mind, feeling something struggle to emerge from the buried crypt in its consciousness. "Alex…" it whispered, somehow knowing how to form the sounds without thinking about it. "Alex," it repeated quietly. _Is that… is that me?_

* * *

God what have I done?

So... tired... review... please? (snore)


	32. Bloody Forest Part One

**Chapter Thirty-One**

**Bloody Forest - Part One**

"Alex," _it's us, _Psych called up into the dark branches. The sun had near completely set; the shadows were reaching their peak of darkness. The black fur of the creature was blending in a little too well with the shadowed branches. _Remembered us? _he continued. _It's me, and Razor, Gorf, Bomber, Dev and Stripes? Leo, Raph, Mike and Don?_

Leaves rustled, but silence remained.

Sharp, Nick and Tyler started to look around them. The sun was gone; there were no hopes in getting anywhere without walking through the dark and meeting the nocturnal inhabitants of the island.

"What happened?" Leo asked, ninja training kicking in allowing him to distinguish the differences between the shadowed shapes, and he saw the appearance during the wolf-attack clearly enough.

"A second post-creation mutation," Psych replied gravely.

"Each mutation rearranges your DNA, adding and deleting," Razor continued.

"Then what we saw earlier…" Don started. "The mutation changed her so much that she's more animal than human."

"Exactly," Psych muttered.

"Can we do anything?" Don asked.

"Try and rouse her sanity back in control of her mind," Psych suggested, though even he was having trouble finding their Alex buried under the rough, wordless thoughts and controlling survival instincts.

"Any suggestions on how to do that?" Dev asked.

"So you care?" Bomber asked with something close to an amused smirk.

"Hey, we owe that idiot our freedom," Dev shot at him. "And I'll be damned if I leave a flier in this kind of condition. Though it took years for her to return, Alex never left a man behind and I'm not going to give her - or anyone else - the satisfaction by saying that I did."

"But what could we do exactly to help?" Sharp asked.

"Usually strong memories or emotions do the trick, things like keywords or… pictures… or something."

Eyes went to the blond, a few of them not sure if they had heard right.

"What?" Mikey asked. "It happens all the time in the movies. Concussions, amnesia, mind control…"

"Well, considering what happened last time," Don stated "anger tends to do the trick fine."

"Hey Dev," Leo said. "What was it you called Alex the day you and Bomber beat each other up?"

"What?" Dev asked.

"You called Alex something and it got her ticked off, what was it?"

Dev looked up at the branches. "Oh it was something like; bloodsucker, _vampire_, Dracula's heir."

"You never said that one," Gorf said.

"So? It still fits," Dev shrugged "and it doesn't change the fact that Alex is a _vampi- _**OW**!!" He suddenly cried grabbing the back of his head while a good sized rock fell to the ground behind him.

"I told you to stop calling me that…" a voice growled, it sounded rusty like the user had forgotten how to use it.

Sharp pulled a metal flashlight from his bag and passed the two, smaller back-up flashlights to Nick and Tyler. Comforting light fought back the advancing night and filled the space the group was standing in.

Still holding his head, briefly checking to see if he was bleeding, Dev turned around to find the dark-bat creature leaning against the side of a tree, arms crossed. "That was uncalled for," Dev growled at her.

"You started it."

"Doesn't mean you have to crack my skull," Dev snapped, turning the rock that had hit him over with his foot, analyzing the size and checking for blood.

"Please, your head's so hard a semi couldn't break through it."

"Yep, she's back," Bomber commented, rolling his eyes.

"And fluffy!" Mikey said, seeming to just appear and pulled the furry Alex into a hug. Gorf popped up and joined in before any protesting could happen. Alex looked at them with an odd smile, trying to relax her muscles; weaker humanity scolding the now stronger, defensive animal in her.

"And bloody," Leo added, taking in the state of her destroyed clothes. "What happened?"

Alex shouldered Gorf and Mike off of her, sharp claws held in safe fists. It had been days since she used her hands for anything besides grabbing onto trees and tearing through flesh. "What… Sharp and them said was true. This place is full of dangerous things," Alex confirmed, looking down at what was left of her shirt. "Pushing your way into the food chain is bloody work."

Psych allowed his attention to stray towards Razor, the boy was concentrating on his feet.

Razor didn't know how to feel. Half of him knew he should be happy, Alex was alive! But on the other hand he was growing furious. She always did this, was she emotionally toying with him on purpose? Did she not understand that there are others that actually cared if she disappeared forever? Or did she understand and not give a crap?

"Man, that's no fair…" Gorf said as he stood beside Alex. "You got taller!"

"Oh yeah, that makes everything worth it," Alex replied dryly.

"This isn't so bad," Leo said. "Why'd you leave? We thought you were really gone. You could have just stayed; you think we couldn't handle a change? You need to give us more credit on the ability to protect ourselves."

"It wasn't doubt in you, but in me," Alex said. "You weren't there, but I remember when the change was over. I was more than just not myself; I didn't even know my own name. I killed every creature I met, and if I couldn't kill it I chased it off, I didn't want to put you guys through that, you don't deserve it."

"So instead you make us believe you're dead?" Bomber asked critically.

Alex shook her head. "No, I really did try to kill myself, but my stupid regenerating ability… I ran when it didn't work. Now I can heal twenty times faster than any normal creature. By the way," she wanted to change the subject "what're you guys doing out here?"

"We can be wherever we like on our island," Tyler said with crossed arms.

"And get eaten by wolves."

"I don't remember asking for you help," Nick stated with a twitching tail. "If you would have given us a few more seconds we would've been out of there just fine."

"Anyway," Sharp cut in "I was going to the volcano for needed supplies and wound up with a few extra shadows."

"I was bored," Stripes shrugged.

"We're gonna go shut the force field down," Gorf said.

"And finally get out of here," Mikey added.

"That's the plan anyway," Don said.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Tyler asked.

"Well it seems like everything never goes according to plan," Don explained.

"Like now for instance," Sharp said. "If I was by myself I'd already be in the Labs."

"Well then let's go," Gorf said and turned to walk through the trees in the dark when a howl that echoed through the trees had him turning back to the group. An angry snarl that sounded extremely close had him in Mikey's arms.

"It might be best if we stayed here for the night," Leo said.

"Agreed," Sharp said, while Nick, Tyler, and Gorf nodded in approval.

And so, a rough camp was made that consisted of a crackling fire, dancing shadows, and most sleeping forms.

After tossing and turning for ten minutes Razor finally sat up, giving up the search for a comfortable position on the dry, hard, cold ground. Looking around he found that he wasn't the only one still awake as he checked the state of everyone else. Around the campfire Mikey was sprawled on the ground with his arm thrown across Raph's face, Don was laying on his side using his arm as a pillow next to Leo who had probably fallen asleep sitting up. Dev was facedown, sucking in dirt as he snored, Stripes was using the flier's leg as a pillow and Bomber was dangerously close to rolling over one of Dev's wings, while Gorf was curled up against a slightly drooling Psych. Nick and Tyler were hugging their weapons like teddy bears and Sharp slept soundlessly beside his sleepless twin. All the while Alex was scratching the dirt with a claw.

"Can't sleep too?" Razor asked as he fixed his bandana and tightened the knot in the back.

"I haven't slept much lately," Alex muttered simply.

Razor looked over her knee to glance at the etching. It was doodles of axes, swords and arrows. As he watched Alex slowly stopped, she ran an oversized hand over a furred arm. "…I'm… sorry," she said slowly.

"What?"

"I'm sorry… for what I did," Alex said. "I don't know what I'd do if one of you guys just killed yourselves."

"It's okay, you're here now."

"No, it's not," Alex said. "You wouldn't speak to me, even when you followed me you wouldn't say a word, you just stared. At least last time you pushed me off a building."

"Oh, would you like me to grab Tyler's crossbow and shoot you down?" Razor asked playfully.

"Not exactly," Alex replied. "But I don't want you to be mad at me now that I'm sane enough to care again."

Razor grabbed her shoulder. "I'm not mad, really," he assured when his fingers felt the fur. "Wow, you are soft."

Alex brushed him off. "Stop it."

"No seriously, have you felt this stuff?"

"Yes, I know I'm fluffy, not stop it."

Razor opened his mouth to say something else but his nose cut him off. He sniffed the air. "Hey, do you smell that?"

"Smell what?"

"That, it smells like… blood - lots of blood."

Alex's short snout wrinkled. "Ugh, now that you mention it, it smells to me like something's rotting."

The trees creaked around them, leaves rustled.

Alex jumped into a low crouching position.

"What is it?" Razor asked as an unsettling feeling started in the pit of his stomach.

"Don't know, thought I saw something move."

The trees continued to creak as a wind blew.

Both experiments' ears jerked. Razor warily got to his feet, staying low to the ground. Something was out there, they didn't know where or how they knew, but something was dangerously close.

Even in sleep Leo could sense it too and opened his eyes to look around. Across the fire Nick twitched and pulled his ax closer, Tyler subconsciously reached a hand closer to the trigger of his crossbow.

Then, out of the blue, Gorf started to giggle. He shifted, quieted down, and then started to giggle again. He kicked at his ankle, swatted at his foot and irritably mumbled "Stopit…"

The three that were awake looked at each other questioningly.

With a tired groan of annoyance Gorf sat up with sleep still clinging to his body. He opened his eyes to glare at what had been tickling his foot, when he saw it his eyes widened. Like it knew it had been caught the root quickly wrapped around the green ankle and yanked back into the trees. "Ah!" Gorf exclaimed as he was pulled onto his back. His hands reached up in desperation and gripped Psych's arm.

Psych was yanked out of sleep when he was jerked across the ground. Not fully aware of what was happening he sat up, grabbed Gorf and dug his heels in the dirt. By that time Leo had jumped up and brought a sword down on the root.

Gorf and Psych scrambled to their feet as the others started to rouse from rough endings to their dreams thanks to a certain telepathic. Eyes slowly blinked open as bodies rose like the dead.

Dev had gotten to hands and knees when something grabbed his ankle and yanked back. "Holy-!" he yelled when bomber just barely managed to grab him by the fingertips. Nick brought his ax down on the root around Dev's ankle.

"What the hell's goin' on?!" Raph asked.

"Yeah, seriously," Nick said as they all got to their feet and turned their backs on the fire.

"Something's out there," Gorf said, clinging to Psych's arm.

"Question is: What?" Leo added.

Sharp pulled out a gun from the waistband of his pants. "Could be anything."

"Hey! Why do _you_ get a gun?!" Tyler demanded.

"Because you shot Nick in the butt with an arrow," Sharp replied "heaven forbid I give you bullets."

"What about me?" Nick asked.

"I offered you the crossbow first, you wanted a blade."

"Guys, is this really the best to be complaining about weapons?" Don asked when Mikey suddenly yelped and slapped a hand to his arm. He ripped the thing off of the limb and inspected the area.

"Ow…" he muttered at seeing beads of blood well up from a patch of small holes that had appeared on his arm. "Ah!" he yelped again and yanked the thing out of his hand with the other hand, holding it by the stem – it was a leaf. "Ow…" he whimpered looking at his palm that had the same collection of bleeding pricks as his arm. "It bit me!" he exclaimed in a mix of astonishment and hurt.

"A leaf… bit you…" Dev slowly said.

"Do you even hear yourself speak?" Raph asked.

"It did! Look!" Mikey exclaimed holding his now stinging palm forward in example.

"Lemme see," Don said taking the leaf, holding it by the stem also. He twirled it between finger and thumb. It looked like a regular oak leaf, but upon closer inspection… "Huh…"

"You see something, Don?" Leo asked.

"This leaf, it has… barely macroscopic spikes covering the surface," Don observed, then got a surprise as the leaf browned, withered, and died right in his hand.

"Well that can't be natural," Gorf commented.

_Lots of things can't be natural, doesn't mean they don't exist… _Psych replied eyes scanning the surrounding shadows, not thinking to look up while a looped vine started to lower from overhead branches.

The sound of rustling leaves caused Alex's ears to twitch. She turned, starting to lose trust in all sound, and saw the vine seemingly moving on its own. "Psych!"

Psych only had time to look at her before the vine swiftly lowered, wrapped around the old experiment's neck and quickly pulled up. He grabbed the vine, trying to push his fingers between the organic noose and his throat while he choked. His feet left the ground.

Everyone turned at Alex's exclamation and was frozen with sudden shock. The first to move was Tyler who quickly shot an arrow through the vine. Psych crumbled to the ground with a gasp while rubbing his neck, pulling the length of vine off of him and throwing it into the fire.

"Are you okay?" Stripes and Gorf asked together, kneeling down on either side of Psych with concern. Psych simply nodded.

Fallen leaves quickly rustled and they all got ready with weapons and tense muscles as a mouse ran across the ground, stopped, and commenced in cleaning its whiskers.

"Okay this is insane," Dev said.

Bomber nodded when, out of nowhere, a low, twiggy branch from the tree closest to the mouse lashed down, swept the little creature up, and stuck it into the leaves. There was a high pitched squeaking for a moment before silence reigned.

"Dude," Mikey whispered "tell me no one else saw that."

"You mean how that tree just ate that mouse?" Gorf asked, weakly pointing a shaking finger.

"Uh-huh…"

"No…"

Nick grabbed a grenade from his belt. "How do we know it's the trees?" he asked stubbornly and yanked the pin out. "Could be something that just looks like a tree." He threw the grenade up into the branches where it exploded, followed by the sound of splintering wood.

Broken branches tumbled to the ground. Don stumbled back from a branch almost landing on his foot. As the wood rested a surprise started to leak out over the dirt. Don went down and moved the branch, though he had trouble believing it the smell was proof enough. "Guys, this may sound crazy but, this branch is… bleeding. I think Mike and Gorf might be right."

"Great," Raph huffed. "No good ever comes from Mike bein' right."

"Just what are you guys saying?" Tyler asked though he probably knew the answer.

"Please don't tell me the trees that we are very much _surrounded _by have become carnivorous," Sharp said.

"Maybe not so much carnivorous as having somehow managed to replace the need for water with-"

"Blood," Alex finished.

"How does something like that happen?" Leo asked.

"How does something like us happen?" Alex asked back.

"What do we do?" Gorf asked.

"I vote run before this place collapses on us," Stripes suggested.

"I second that," Nick said.

"Scared-y cat," Tyler muttered.

"Don't start with me, fish-boy…"

"I say we stay with the fire," Sharp stated.

"Well would someone think of a good plan?" Gorf pleaded. "I'm getting freaked out here!"

Psych put a hand on Gorf's shoulder as he moved to his feet. _Calm down, they must not have fully attacked yet for a reason…_

"Fire _is _wood's worst enemy," Don commented.

"Whatever," Mikey cut in "I just wanna get outta here- ah!" he exclaimed when his foot was suddenly pulled out from under him and he hit the ground on his back, immediately after he was quickly dragged towards the shadows. Raph and Leo leapt for him but both missed.

"Mikey!" they yelled together. Raph didn't waste a second in racing into the night after his youngest sibling.

"Wait!" Sharp called as Leo followed his brothers and Don started heading that way as well. "Stay together!" With a small growl he followed the three turtles that had just left. "Stay here!" he ordered over his shoulder.

Ignoring the order Razor started forward but a hand grabbed his shoulder. "Let go!" he snapped jerking out of Tyler's grip. "I lost him once already; I'm not going to lose him again because of some damn forest!" Before anyone could stop him Razor disappeared.

Gorf looked around to find that Alex had secretly taken her leave at some time too. Gorf hugged Psych with Nick and Tyler now the only ones left with actual weapons.

With the group considerably reduced the branches overhead shivered and a rain of leaves drifted down. Holding his breath Psych imagined a barrier over their heads like a roof keeping the leaves off of them, and it happened. Slowly he worked breathing in as he concentrated on the barrier.

Dev, Bomber, Stripes, Nick and Tyler looked up in wonder as the leaves seemed to scuttle around over their heads, then eventually jump back up into the branches where they seemed to reattach themselves to the branches. Then, with a loud _CRACK!_ the very branches broke and fell onto the barrier making Psych wince. Being held onto the trunks by thick fibers the branches pounded down on the invisible roofing like irritated fists. Psych gripped his head in pain; it felt like the branches were coming down on his mind but he refused to break his concentration.

Finding that an aerial approach wasn't working, roots, vines, and even stringy, flexible branches came in from the sides. They clawed and grabbed at the bodies. Nick swung his ax at anything that got close to him and Tyler used his trained reflexes to shoot and cut anything that happened to actually grab someone.

As he stayed close to Psych, Gorf got an idea and grabbed a thick stick that had been sticking out of the fire. He swung the torch at the roots that got near him while he protected Psych. Dev, Bomber and Stripes caught onto the idea and claimed torches of their own.

"Guys, we _really_ need back up!" Dev exclaimed when he pulled against a vine wrapped around his arm; Nick was close enough to cut it off.

"Sure, just let me grab my phone here and I'll call some!" Bomber replied sarcastically.

"Man the one time the flamethrower would actually come in handy…" Nick muttered.

Through the problems taking up his mind Psych managed an idea. _Flamethrower!_

...---... ...---... ...---... ...---... ...---... ...---... ...---...

_Carefully… carefully… carefully… _Jeff thought to himself as he pulled a small stone cup of liquid metal from the fireplace and was moving it across the room to the mold when his thoughts were shattered, sending a shockwave down his body causing him to drop the tongs in his hands and send the metal spilling across the stone floor where it quickly cooled and became useless.

"Dame it!" he exclaimed when he felt a flicker of something in his mind. There was another flicker before actual words could be made out.

_Jeff…_

"Psych?" Jeff wondered aloud.

_Need… help… killer… trees… bring… flame… thrower…_

"Flamethrower?" Jeff asked but didn't get a response. Without wondering too much about it Jeff quickly went to the door in the back of the room. The door led to a large last-resort-storage room. He always kept extra everything in this room for when it was really needed. No one but Sharp knew about it. Among the supplies two tanks of fuel for the flamethrower sat. He grabbed them and ran to the surface, leaving the door to his room open.

Going to the weapon house he loaded the flamethrower and stood there a moment, thinking. The fastest way would be to wake Jack but could he really leave Skyler? If he and Jack left that meant the only ones left would be Skyler and Splinter. After a moment he figured it would be fine for a few minutes. Skyler was resourceful enough and someone had to of taught the four ninja how to fight in the first place, right?

Jeff strapped the flamethrower to his back as he ran to the elevator that would take him up to Sharp's bedroom. Inside he gently shook Jack out of his burrow of blankets and furs. Jack looked up at him with dream-filled green eyes. Jeff picked him up, cradling the body, warm flesh-y arm holding the boy up.

"Wazgoinon?" Jack mumbled rubbing an eye.

"The others need our help," Jeff explained gently. "They're out in the forest somewhere and I need you to help me get there. Please Jack, just focus on say… Nick, I know you can do it."

Jack was still trying to wake up but he whispered "'kay…" nonetheless and squeezed his eyes shut, gripping onto Jeff's shirt as if to make sure he didn't go alone.

In the room the two flickered in and out of a view like a light bulb about to burnout. They flickered faster and faster until finally they were gone.

...---... ...---... ...---... ...---... ...---... ...---... ...---...

Michelangelo clawed at the ground, digging the toe of his free shoe into the dirt in hopes of catching something. Dirt and rocks scratched his hands raw but finally he managed to snag a small bush. The sharp twigs tore at his skin but that was hardly the problem at the moment. The vine that was around his ankle, so tight it was cutting off circulation, continued to pull and jerk. He kicked at it in hopes of knocking it off but it simply tightened its grip.

What was going to be a cry for help came out as just a loud sound for anything with ears when his grip started to slip. But then a shadow moved and the tension on his leg grew slack and he let go of the bush.

Scrambling to his feet Mikey found a dark figure with a bladed tail standing with her back to him.

"Thanks," he blurted before more vine lashed out from all directions. Mike urged his eyes to adjust to the lack of light as soon as possible as he tripped in trying to dodge, moving more on instinct than sight.

"Go!" Alex exclaimed jumping back as a whip-like root lifted from the ground and lashed out. Mikey didn't need telling twice as he turned and ran. Alex right behind him.

It seemed like every tree was after them with branches swinging down from above, roots tripping and grabbing from below, and the tree trunks around them seemed to be deliberately moving to get in their way and slow them down.

The farther they ran the thicker the smell of blood and rot filled their noses. Mike quickly found ways to keep moving forward while Alex tried to keep anything from grabbing them from behind.

"_Mikey_!" a voice called through the trees. It was Don. Raph and Leo's voices quickly followed.

Mike skidded to a stop and looked around. "Guys!" he yelled. Alex shoved him in the back.

"Don't stop!"

"But-"

"Keep moving!" Alex ordered and noticed something off to the side, a ditch- no, a dried up riverbed. She grabbed him, fist easily wrapping around his lower arm with room to spare, and pulled him towards the river bed where they jumped in to the sound of a rattle.

* * *

Yay I'm alive! I was starting to feel bad for not updating... at all this year I think... anyway so here ya go, I figured this entire chapter was going to be long so I decided to cut it off here becuase I'm mean and crazy and weird like that. Go cliff-ies! ^_^  
Man, this story is lasting a lot longer than I first anticipated. But then again when I start a story I know the begining and what the end is SUPPOSED so be, the middle's always fuzzy and is usually longer than first planned out...

Anyway, I gotta get to bed so I can actually start paying attention in class at school. I mean I already got an F in world history. Not that I can't do the work its just that I fail to turn the work in and the freak'n teacher continues to hand out assignments that are worth like- 30 points each. X6

Anyway, read, enjoy, REVIEW. No seriously guys, please review, you're like, 32 chapters into the SECOND story, you have to have SOMETHING to say, I don't care if its one word, come on! Besides I'm an aspiring writer, a little critisism would be nice at the least!


	33. Bloody Forest Part Two

**Chapter Thirty-Two**

**Bloody Forest – Part Two**

"Mikey!" Leo called in hopes of a response as the brothers ran through the trees dodging root and vines. Behind them Sharp tried to catch up becoming aggravated at just how fast these turtles could move.

"Wait!" the shark called. "Stop!"

"Guys hold on!" Razor called from behind Sharp.

Sharp partly turned to see his twin struggling to catch up too. "Razor, I said stay there!"

"No! If something happens I wanna be there, not sitting and wondering if your ever gonna come back like last time!"

Sharp tightened his mouth into a thin line but knew he couldn't tell Razor to turn back alone. Instead he continued forward and yelled "Damn it, stop!" With a burst of speed he managed to leap forward and grasp Don's wrist. "Wait, you guys are headed straight for the spiders. Any farther and you'll be caught in miles of webbing. I know you're trying to save your brother but you can't do that if we passed him!"

"Then where do you suggest he is?" Raph demanded heatedly.

"I… don't know," Sharp admitted when a loud _CRACK_ split the air. Razor jumped on Sharp, shoving him out of the way as a tree split itself in half and came crashing down where the body had just been standing.

"Everyone okay?" Leo asked as they stumbled back from the fallen wood. Shocked "yeah"-s and nods replied before they witnessed the tree shiver in its resting place and rise up to correct its position, and quickly mend. From the branches a mass fell and hit the ground where it remained still, the smell of rot surrounding it.

The guys inched away from the trees while Sharp switched on his flashlight. The light fell on the mass to reveal a rotting corpse. Clumps of fur were missing while the flesh was covered in pin pricks and the bones were near visible underneath the skin. It was a wolf, and had appeared to be sucked dry from all its fluids.

Razor and Sharp had to cover their noses against the stench while red flags shot up in the turtles' minds.

"We have to find him," Don stated the obvious.

"Come on den!" Raph said and started through the trees in a new, yet random, direction – Sharp didn't try to stop them as he quickly followed, holding onto Razor's wrist, determined not to lose his own brother in a place like this.

...---... ...---... ...---... ...---... ...---... ...---... ...---...

The pair weren't aware of the rattles until after they landed, but once they hit the ground Mikey froze while Alex turned. It was hard to see at first but by tracking the sound she found the rattlesnake coiled up on the mix of rock and grass, which made up the bottom of the riverbed. The snake was agitatedly shaking the end of its tail at them.

Alex dismissed it as a threat; rattlesnakes hardly attacked first. If they kept their distance they'd be fine. "Come on," she said quietly, backing up from the snake but Mike grabbed her shoulder.

"What about that?"

Alex slowly turned to find a large solid slowly advancing toward them.

With eyes that had finally adjusted to the forest night, Mike could also see what it was and didn't like it. It was large, furry, moved silently, and had this strange hunting growl coming deep within its throat: a tiger.

"I hate cats…" Alex muttered, claws twitching.

Mikey tried to keep his cool. _It's just a really big cat; _he thought _nothing really scary about that, of course besides the claws… and teeth… and the fact that it's probably twice my size… Aw man, I'll take Hun over a tiger any day, maybe even the Shredder… Okay, maybe not the Shredder but still… _During the debate in Mikey's head the tiger crouched down and pounced. The flash of movement was just enough for reflex to kick in causing Mike to find himself pressed against the side of the riverbed while the tiger barely missed him.

The great jungle cat landed and swatted at the rattlesnake that nipped at its paws. With a hiss the tiger smacked the snake, sending the slender body flying. It landed, gave a hiss of its own and slithered away. By the time the cat turned back to its primary target it found its prey gone.

...---... ...---... ...---... ...---... ...---... ...---... ...---...

"Guys we gotta think of something fast," Stripes said as he swung at a vine that had tried to wrap around his neck multiple times now. Behind him Psych had dropped to his knees against the branches that were pounding on the overhead barrier, blood dripping down over his mouth.

"Any suggestions?" Nick asked jumping back from an attempt at his ankles.

"No, but I'm never going to eat vegetation again," Tyler announced.

"You've never eaten plants," Nick pointed out.

"And now I never will!"

"Guys that's great an' all," Stripes said and pulled back when a root grabbed the torch in his hands and tried to take it away. "But we could _really _use a plan, like- _NOW_!" As if in answer a strange strangled cry came from close by.

"Now what?" Gorf asked as he saw an orange light start to appear behind some of the trees. The cries became louder along with the sound of snapping twigs. From the lightening shadows a figure emerged holding a long metal tube in a metal hand.

"Hi, heard you guys needed a little help," Jeff said. A collection of vines quickly reached for him, the trees somehow knowing that the ideal threat was the one with the flamethrower strapped to his back. Jeff retaliated by straightforward torching anything that didn't have legs and was trying to strangle him.

"Jeff?" Nick asked. "Where'd you come from?"

"Jack brought me, he missed by a couple yards but what can you do?" Jeff said nonchalantly. "I already sent him back." He looked up at the branches pounding on what seemed to be solid air. He made the connection to Psych after a moment. "Drop the barrier, I got this."

Psych gratefully relaxed his mind and had to put his hands on the ground to keep himself steady. Gorf was suddenly beside him as Jeff blew jets of flame into the branches. _I'm… fine… _Psych reassured Gorf as he pressed a knuckle to his bleeding nose.

"Hey Jeff, I got a question," Tyler said. "Why are we using fire when we are surrounded by mile after mile of potential _firewood_?"

"Oh don't worry," Jeff half shrugged "man eating trees right? He was always talking of creating something along those lines. I'm sure he won't let all that research be completely burned down." To prove him right it was only a matter of seconds before there was the faint sound of buzzing over the crackling of the fires that were just starting to spread. Rain suddenly poured down through the crisping leaves drenching the fires before any real danger could be done to the surrounding forest. "See, I told you." He looked around. "Hey, where's everyone else?"

"They disappeared a bit ago," Stripes informed. "Mikey was taken by the trees; don't know what happened but his bros, Sharp and Razor went after him. I think Alex did too, though I didn't catch her go."

"Hm…" Jeff seemed to sum up the situation in his head very quickly before rested the long nozzle of the flamethrower on his shoulder. "Well let's go find them."

...---... ...---... ...---... ...---... ...---... ...---... ...---...

Up on the surface Alex and Mike were once again dodging through the trees that wanted to eat them, only this time they had a tiger more and likely stealthily hunting them at the same time.

After a good half mile the trees disappeared and they found themselves facing the bottom of a cliff. Both of them looked around for a sure way out but the small clearing that they were standing in were surrounded by blood-drinking trees. Alex was ready to just grab Mike and fly them up to the top of the cliff when a hunting growl sounded behind them. The pair turned to find the glowing eyes of the tiger as it advanced from the trees.

"Why don't the trees attack it?" Mikey asked, pointing at the large jungle cat.

"Because the trees have become strategic," Alex said as she watched the movements of the branches, not entirely believing what she had just said but it was the only explanation she could come up with. "We kill the tiger, it kills us, or we just injure each other, it's still less of a fight for the trees to get what they want."

"Man, how can going from a tree house to a volcano be so hard?" Mikey muttered as they backed up against the cliff. Neither of them was exactly looking forward to going head-to-head with a tiger but both were ready to fight it if they absolutely had to.

However, just as the blond ninja pushed his weight onto the wall of rock, dirt and root behind him the rocks gave way, the ground tilted and Alex and Mikey found themselves tumbling backwards down a dark slope, leaving the tiger to face the thirsty tree branches by itself.

After tumbling head-over-heels with seemingly no end to the slope they abruptly stopped in a tangle of limbs. Mikey sniffed in a small ache and wrinkled his nose. "Ugh, get your foot out of my face!"

"Quiet," Alex muttered and tried to get up. Mikey stood beside her and looked around. They appeared to be in a narrow hallway dug out of the rock that oddly had old fashion torches burning in long intervals that lit the way.

"Good bye sci-fi, hello action adventure," Mikey said.

"Do you _have_ to make this movie?" Alex asked.

Mikey shrugged. "What's wrong with movies?"

...---... ...---... ...---... ...---... ...---... ...---... ...---...

The band of brothers had mixed feelings quietly going about them. The biggest feeling was growing despair as it fought with denial. Each second that ticked by as they ran and searched the trees was a lost chance of finding Michelangelo. All of them knew it, but none of them had the heart or strength to voice it.

They called out time and time again but got nothing in response. The smallest clue was all they asked for but reality wouldn't grant them even that bit of hope.

Then, their run was temporarily stopped as they jumped into a dried up riverbed; Razor was having troubles breathing.

"Seriously… do not… see how you… guys can do it…" the aquatic soldier huffed, who was ignored.

The others, who were breathing hard themselves but didn't much care, looked around. All the trees looked the same, and there was nothing that would give them a lead: no lost shoe, no torn piece of clothing, no dropped weapon…

A worry had been spinning through Don's mind during the run and he had to say it. "The rate we're going… we have to find him but… without any kind of lead we could be going the wrong direction for all we know."

"Don's right," Leo had to admit. "But what can we do?"

"And what if we're goin' the _right_ direction?" Raph nearly growled. "He could need us righ' now and we're just standin' 'ere double thinkin' ourselves!"

"Getting snappy won't help anything," Leo pointed out roughly.

"I'm not snappy!" Raph snapped, his voice starting to rise. "It looks like I'm the only one that wants to keep moving so we can find him good an' whole!"

"All because-" Leo started but was cut off by Sharp.

"Guys! I really don't think now is the right time for the clash-of-the-personalities. Now, is there _anything_ about Mike that could tell us where he would go? A type of place his subconscious would look for or anything?"

"His training would tell him to get to any well hidden area," Leo said.

"Well that narrows it down to the _entire forest_," Raph couldn't help from saying.

"But maybe," Don said "with the fact that practically all of Mike's life was spent with the plotlines of video games and comic books, what if it got stuck in his mind that there's always a rendezvous point – that the characters always meet up where they were going in the first place?"

"So you're saying that there's a chance that Mike is still heading for the volcano?" Razor questioningly translated.

"It's a possibility like anything else," Don said.

"But it's the best we got," Leo said. "Let's go."

"This way," Sharp said and led out of the riverbed towards the volcano.

...---... ...---... ...---... ...---… ...---... ...---... ...---...

"Where are we going?" Stripes asked.

"And why are we going so calmly?" Gorf added as the group of experiments and the one human merely walked through the patch of forest of deadly trees.

"No point in hurrying," Jeff stated, blasting any kind of vegetation that tried to reach out for him with jets of flame. Sprinkles of rain followed their path, putting out the fires that appeared in their wake. "And we're going where Sharp first intended: the volcano. No point in getting all of us lost, and I know where the entrance is. Besides, if Sharp finds the trail of burned wood he'll know we went to the volcano so it's all okay."

"How do we know this is the right way?" Dev asked.

"If you don't believe me you can fly up and check."

"Yeah, go ahead and take a look," Bomber said.

Dev looked up at the branches – had they always been that menacing? "You know, I-I'll take your word for it."

"Jeff, how did you know about the heat seeking rain clouds that're following us," Tyler asked looking over his shoulder.

"Because I- know the head scientist," Jeff said quietly. "But anyway, come on. We need to get to the volcano before the nocturnal inhabitants of the forest decide to come out and play."

* * *

REVIEW!!!!!!


	34. Cliche Mountain

**Chapter Thirty-Three**

**Cliché Mountain**

"Oh you have got to be kidding me…" Alex muttered as she and Mikey stood at the end of the hall that they had just spent the last fifteen minutes walking down. All that time of endless stone hallway and torches they found a wall with a hole just big enough to push an arm through in it.

Mikey looked around. The walls on either side of him were covered in pictures carved into the stone. He looked at the wall. Something about this seemed oddly familiar… "Let's see…" he muttered to himself, subconsciously swinging a nunchuck in his hand as he thought. "A crash from the air, trek through the jungle, entered a large stone structure – that'sreallystretchingitbut – _The Mummy_!"

"What?"

"The Mummy," Mikey repeated. "Second one to be specific but that's beside the point."

Alex covered her eyes with a hand. "Mike, tell me you're not talking about a movie."

"Bu-"

"_Mike_!" Alex exclaimed somewhat harsher than necessary. "This is not a universe of movies, games, and comics. Those things are labeled fiction for a reason! All of this is _real_, Mike, I don't know any other way to say it but come _on_. It's fine for jokes and when things are as normal as they can get, but not now! We are _really_ on a monster infested island out in the middle of nowhere, your brothers are _really_ in the forest facing _real_… bloody trees, and _look at me_; I'm a real freakin' _monster_, I almost tore you guys' heads off when I first saw you pass through trees! There is no plot here; no guarantee of winning, there's not even a guarantee of the all main characters making it all the way to the end! This isn't a _story_. And beside all that; you are a _ninja_, man, how in all hell could you be so… so…"

"Childish?" Mike supplied with an expression close to hurt.

"Yes!" Alex exclaimed a second before she realized what she had just said and slapped a claw to her face. "…shit."

Mikey turned away, walked back up the hall a few yards and leaned against the wall.

Alex sighed and punched the wall. After a moment she looked at her fist. "God I'm turning into Raph…" she muttered. "Or Bomber… please let it be Raph." She looked at the teen, looked at the floor, back at the teen and uneasily moved forward. "Mike… erm…" What could she say? "Mike, I-"

"You're right."

"What?"

"You're right," Mike repeated, turning his back on the wall with crossed arms and slid to the floor. "Though they never say it, I know the looks. Leo and Raph, even Don sometimes wanted me to grow up, to hurry up and be an adult. They think I can't be serious, that I'm stuck at the age of eight."

"Mikey they don't think that," Alex assured, crouching down to his level. "It's just that sometimes… you just don't seem to get it. Like that one time last year; we were sneaking into the hangout of those hackers and you waved at the security camera."

"It didn't seem like a bad idea at the time, and they already knew we were there…"

"Or earlier: a wolf walks up to you and you try to _pet it_!"

"It wasn't dangerous until the adult showed up," Mike defended. "And you just said it yourself; you guys think that I can't understand anything."

"I didn't say that."

"Yes you did, just not exactly."

"You're twisting my words!" Alex growled.

"And you're twisting my thoughts!" Mikey exclaimed sharply. "You don't know what I'm thinking when I do stuff- and we sound like we're dating!"

"See, like that," Alex said pointing. "You're always adding unnecessary things in."

"If I don't who will?" Mikey asked. "Do you have any idea how depressing life would be for me and my bros the way we are- they are- we- they- _we_ are?"

"Think about that real hard," Alex said, an ax blade tapping the stone floor behind her.

"Okay maybe you do," Mikey admitted. "But what's the point of living a depressed life? There always has to be at least _one_ person that lightens the mood, but I can take things seriously when I want to. You just don't believe me."

Alex had run out of things to say. She looked around for something to help her out. In the search she looked at the wall with a hole in it. With a sigh she stood up and went to the wall. "Eh… so in the movie, Mike, how did this wall work?"

Mikey looked over at her. He stood up, walked over while dusting off the seat of his pants, and looked into the darkness of the hole. "Well, the guy in the movie stuck his hand in the hole and activated some kind of switch that would be located in the back."

"Simple enough," Alex said and reached a hand for the hole.

"Wait!" Mikey exclaimed, grabbing her wrist. "Also in the movie the one that put their hand in the hole had their arm completely stripped of all flesh, and then I think he fell into a pool of scarabs…" he muttered thoughtfully.

"Don't worry," Alex said, pulling her arm free. "My hand is completely indestructible and the rest of my arm can take care of anything else."

Mikey didn't look too sure but said "'kay…"

Alex pushed her hand into the hole; it barely fit but fit all the same. Her arm went in up to the shoulder with nothing happening. "I think I feel something," she said after touching a block that stuck up from the bottom of the hole. She got a hold on it and pulled back. It moved with a jerk. "There, see?" Alex asked as she started to let go of the block, but then the hole seemed to suddenly close in on her arm. "Uh-oh." She pulled on her arm but the hole pulled back.

"What's wrong?"

Alex grabbed her shoulder. "I can't move my arm." Suddenly sharp objects stuck in her arm and started rotating like can openers going down the length of her arm, her knees buckled with a yelp.

"What is it?" Mikey asked in alarm. "I thought you said you could handle it!"

"There's something in there!" Alex said, jerking harder on her arm. "If I can get my arm back I can handle it! But I can still feel the pain!" She put her feet up on the wall and pulled, Mikey grabbed her around the middle to help. "Pull!" Alex growled more than said.

"I am!" Mikey exclaimed, pulling so hard his shoes were sliding forward on the stone.

Finally, with a mighty jerk the two fell backwards and hit the ground. Alex sat up trying not to let anything touch the dripping, bloody strings of flesh that was what was left of her limb.

"Oh my god, Alex your arm!" Mikey exclaimed when he sat up and saw the damage.

"Its fine," Alex said through gritted teeth. "Just give it a second." As she said, a moment later Mikey watched in amazement as replacement skin quickly grew over the mending muscles, fur developing in hyper speed. In a matter of seconds the arm was completely mended like nothing had happened at all. "I told you," Alex said as Mikey's amazement "I can heal twenty times faster than usual. As long as there's still an arm to be healed it'll come back."

Mikey grabbed his own arm with a shudder when a whirling sound came from the walls. It sounded like gears turning together. Suddenly the entire floor jerked downwards, then began to crumble, starting close to the wall that had shredded Alex's arm and quickly came towards them. Alex and Mike scrambled to their feet to run down the hall as the floor collapsed at their heels. However it was only a matter of time before they hit the end of the hall with nowhere else to go. They turned to face the quickly disappearing floor before their piece of ground inevitably fell away and they plunged into darkness.

...---... ...---... ...---... ...---... ...---... ...---... ...---...

"This whole man-eating-forest-t'ing is getting _really old_!" Raph yelled as he leapt of a root that tried to swipe him across the legs.

"I agree!" Razor cried as he leapt out of a loop about to close in around him. "How much farther?"

"Almost ther- shit!" Sharp's promise was cut short when a vine caught him around the forearm and yanked back. Leo was there to cut the vine just as fast as it had grabbed the shark.

"This is insane," Don said as he yanked his staff from the clutches of some stringy branches and pole-vaulted over a thicker branch that had swung down to knock him to the ground. On the landing he noticed a flare of light in the corner of his eye and caught a faint smell. "Hey, do you guys smell smoke?"

"Not exactly the best time to be sniffin' around, Don!" Raph commented as he ducked underneath a branch aimed for his head, then faltered at the sound of small, high pitched cries of pain. "What's dyin'?"

Razor leapt forward when a root tried to whip him across the back, then stumbled back and fell when a jet of flame appeared through the branches, the fire missing his nose by inches. The smell of burning blood soaked wood finally reached the group – it wasn't exactly the best of smells. The cries grew around them as the trees ripped up their roots and moved back from the fire.

"There, told you they'd learn," a voice said as more jets of flame appeared, pushing the lethal trees back.

"Jeff?" Leo questioned. How could Jeff be all the way out there? Didn't they leave him behind in the tree houses?

"Jeff," Sharp confirmed with a smile.

"Yo!" Raph yelled jumping back before he got a barbequed arm. "Ya got people back 'ere! Stop firing!"

"Sorry!" Jeff called back.

_Everyone okay?_ a voice asked in their minds as they moved towards the origins of the fire.

"We're fine," Leo answered when the two groups came together. "But Mike's still out there," he added solemnly with a hint of anger at their fail.

"If he's not one with the trees yet," Tyler commented and received a smack to the back of the head with a metal hand. "Ow, what?! Just being realistic…" he muttered with crossed arms.

"Alex is gone too," Stripes put in.

"Not very sure if that helps…" Tyler said and got another smack – this time from Raph. "Hey!"

"Psych, can you get a word to either of them?" Don asked.

Psych looked at the ground. If they were too far away or unconscious he wouldn't be able to reach their minds, and the vague headache he had collected wasn't helping either. Through concentration, however, he managed to get some kind of feeling from a distant mind. He tried to zero in on it, went too far and cringed, clutching his arm.

"What is it?" Razor asked in mild alarm.

"I don't know," Psych shook his head "but they're out of the forest and one of them just got hurt, badly."

"What?!" three concerned brothers exclaimed.

"Who?" Raph demanded.

Psych put a hand to his forehead, that headache from the branches banging down on his conscious wasn't getting any better. "I- I can't tell, I'm sorry."

"It's fine," Leo said. "Mike's out of the forest; that's good. Even if one's hurt, if they're together they can take care of each other."

Sharp nodded. "Let's get to the volcano. If Mike and Alex aren't there we can break into the labs anyway and find some kind of camera robot or something to help us look for them and go from there."

"It's a loose plan," Don said unsurely thinking back on all the times when something messed the plan up.

"But a plan all the same," Leo stated.

"Everyone in agreement?" Jeff asked. No one objected or came up with a better idea. "Okay then, let's go."

...---...

Twenty minutes passed of walking, and Gorf jumping into Raph's arms at every snapped twig only to be dropped to the ground, before the trees started to thin until they completely fell away and the group found a bare patch at the base of the volcano.

"So where's the entrance?" Dev asked.

"Right here," Sharp said stepping forward, feeling around the rocks until one was pushed forward. It moved back and slid to the side to allow passage. "There, see? Come on." They followed him into the passage, Psych having to slouch to keep from scraping his head on the ceiling.

The rock started to slide back into place behind them, Gorf jumping at the sound of rock on rock.

"Okay frog, we gotta talk," Raph said with annoyance.

Gorf gave a wide smile as he sat in the green arms only to be dropped yet again.

Ahead of them was a long dark corridor going deeper into the volcano. The only light was that of the flashlights held by Sharp, Nick and Tyler. Cobwebs hung down from the ceiling as they walked, Psych gave up swatting at his head after a while figuring that if he was going to exit the tunnel with grey, sticky hair so be it. Slowly it was noticed that the floor was starting to slope downwards to say that they were heading underground.

"What should we expect here?" Don asked.

"Anything," Sharp answered. "The place seems to change every time; it's only the entrance that stays in one spot, though I can give one warning: watch out for booby traps." Just as he said it Stripes tripped, taking Dev down with him by grabbing the flier's shirt.

Nick turned around and pointed the flashlight to investigate as Dev swore at the clumsiness of a shark on land.

"Sorry…" Stripes said weakly. "My foot caught on something." He looked behind him, moving so his shadow couldn't cover it to find that a small square of the floor had sunk down. There was the sound of a _click_ that made the whole group stop.

"Do I want to know what that was?" Sharp asked turning around.

A low rumble echoed up the hall from behind them. It got louder and louder. Nick lifted his light up, what he saw flattened his ears. "Guys…" he started, inching backwards. A massive boulder that took up the entire hallway had appeared and it was headed _right towards them_!

"_RUN_!!!" multiple voices yelled uselessly as the bodies tried to zoom down the hall as fast as they could. It was a mad dash that was destined to end badly as the boulder mercilessly came after them, seeming to pick up speed as it chased the squishable mortals down the sloped hall.

After about sixty feet the ground seemed to give way causing many exclaimed swears as the group jumped for solid ground. The landing was shaky, causing many to trip but they just stood up again and continued. After a few yards they realized that there was no longer rumbling coming from behind them and they slowed. Stopping they looked back to find no boulder. Some trembling from fear, some from the pumping adrenaline, they walked back the way they had come to find that the boulder had fallen into the hole that had appeared, it was stuck at the top of the hole; sealing it shut.

"Wh-what was… that about?" Gorf huffed, hands on knees.

"The man said booby traps," Nick said as he leaned against a wall, his flashlight-holding arm hanging limp at his side. Tyler leaned beside him, his flashlight also near the floor, the pair's feet the only things in easy sight with everything else in vague shadow. There was a moment of silence, most of the group too busy trying to catch their breaths. After a moment Nick said "Okay Sharp, you can say I-told-you-so, and please acknowledge that this time I was not the one that got us in trouble."

Silence.

"Sharp?"

It was then that they noticed there were only two flashlight beams instead of the original three. Nick and Tyler quickly raised their lights and searched the faces – there was only one grey-skinned shark that winced from the light suddenly hitting his eyes in the group, and his bandana was green.

...---... ...---... ...---... ...---... ...---... ...---... ...---...

Once again bat and human were in a groaning mass of limbs at the end of an unexpected slide through darkness.

"Ugh, now where are we?" Mikey groaned his back aching from Alex kneeing him in the spine during their fall.

"Well if you'd get your ass off my head I could find out," Alex growled irritably. She didn't like falling, whether it was plunging to her death or tumbling down a dark slide – falling: not fun.

With an exaggerated groan Mikey rolled off Alex's back. Alex got to her knees and looked around, what she found was not what she had been expecting. Gold. They had tumbled into a room filled with objects made of solid gold studded with colorful jewels resting on mounds of glinting gold coins. Interesting looking chests stood up within rings of bulging bags.

"Dude…" Mikey whispered at the sight. Completely forgetting about his aching back the teenager from New York City jumped to his feet and scaled the nearest pile, sinking ankle deep into the coins. He dropped to his knees near the point with a large smile plastered on his face, hands raking through the coins. He looked around; the room was huge and completely filled with the wealth. On a mountain of gold in the middle of the room sat a grand throne fit for a king. Unable to help himself he half ran, half crawled through the slippery coins to get to the chair. It was cushioned with gold accents.

Alex walked through the middle of the mounds, looking around in utter amazement. It was astonishing, the gold had caught the attention of both sides of her mind; the human half was speechless at the amount of money they had just stumbled into, while the animal half was fixated on all the shiny things. "Is all this real?" she muttered, crouching down to pick up a handful of the coins. They fell through her claws while Mikey was laughing to himself, he was standing up on the throne with a ruby studded crown on his head and a red, fur trimmed cloak wrapped around his shoulders. Looking around his face lit up and he jumped down the far side of the mountain of coins. Coming back up he showed off a golden scepter, king of his own little world. If he smiled any wider he was gonna pull something.

Shaking her head at him, Alex wandered over to one of the chests. First she pulled open one of the bags to find (surprise, surprise) more gold coins, pushing the bag aside she regarded the chest to find it locked.

"Dude!" Mikey exclaimed from across the room. He pulled something from underneath the throne. "There's even a gold knife over here! This is so awesome; do you have any idea how much stuff we could buy with all this? I could totally complete my trading cards collection, or get all the videogames I've ever wanted, heck I could buy a whole store! Hey, I bet I could buy a roller coaster. Oh! I wonder how much a theme park costs…"

Alex rolled her eyes. "Hey throw me that knife."

Mikey tossed it well enough that it rolled down the dunes of gold and stopped at Alex's feet. She picked it up, examined the tip, and tried to pry the lock of the chest open.

"Hey Alex, there's a blue ruby over here that's as big as your head!"

"The blue one's a sapphire, Mike!"

"What's on fire?"

"Nevermind!" Alex rolled her eyes when the chest popped open. Lifting the lid she found it to be filled with bones. "Oo-kay…" She flipped the lid closed and went to check the other chests.

"Wow, a golden boxing glove… hey golden boxers! I wonder if…"

After the tenth chest Alex was starting to feel unsettled. Every one she looked at was filled with bones. After the thirteenth chest Alex gave up on looking through trunks and started looking for an exit. Behind her Mikey continued to yell out his findings: "Dude, there's a whole collection of goblets covered in rubies over here! Hey I got a heart of gold! Oh man, you gotta come look at this vase-" _crash_ "oops, uh, nevermind! Hey look a stick!"

Shaking her head Alex ran a hand along the walls in hopes of tripping some kind of switch. As she did so one of her claws snagged on a crack in the rock, accidently pulling a switch that moved a slab of rock to show another hallway. "Hey Mike we gotta go!" she called out.

"Why?" Mikey's voice drifted up from somewhere in the room.

"Because we can't stay in here."

"Says you!"

"Mike, get over here!"

"Fine, just give me a minute." Alex waited by the exit with crossed arms. When Mikey finally appeared he was trudging along with a bulging sack of golden silk slung over his shoulder in one hand, the scepter in the other hand, and the crown still on his head. "Oh I'm sorry your majesty, am I stealing you away from your treasury?"

"No…" Mikey grunted, unable to stand straight with the weight on his back. "I got it…"

"Oh come on Mike, you're not this greedy. Drop the sack."

Mike halfheartedly dropped the sack with a series of clangs.

"Now come on."

"But what kind of guy would I be if we didn't take a least a little?" Mikey asked looking over his shoulder at the treasures.

Alex looked at the room. Personally she wouldn't mind grabbing a couple handfuls herself. "How about this? You can take as much as you can carry, _easily_."

"Okay, can I keep the crown?"

"I'm not gonna answer that. You got two minutes." Mikey was ready to go in one, though he spent the last sixty seconds saying good bye to the room. Then, with a small sack in his hand, he marched out of the room, golden crown gleaming on his head. Alex shook her head as she followed him, an amused smile pulling at the corner of her mouth.

Behind them soft groans came from the thirteen chests that Alex had opened.

...---... ...---... ...---... ...---... ...---... ...---... ...---...

Razor was furious. There was no other way to describe it. His cheeks were bright red from his boiling blood, fire flared in his eyes as he stormed down the dark hall in the lead. This was the last straw, this shark had had enough. It was hard to tell where his twin had gone, more than likely he had fallen into the hole that the boulder was now plugging up, but one thing was for certain: the first lab coat unfortunate enough to cross this boy's path wouldn't live to regret it.

The others had tried to calm him down but when Raph almost lost a thumb they decided to let him stomp it out. Psych tried to help mentally but going through a mind that was that pissed off was like playing football on a mine field. Not only that but the anger was starting to leak into the psychic's mind, and that was one of the last things they needed.

Anger driving him on, Razor eventually went so far ahead that he had been consumed by darkness. Leo was about to call out for him to come back, that it was too dangerous to be on his own, when they heard a low growl followed by the screech of ripping metal. They rushed forward to see what happened and found a pile of sparking scrap metal covered in bite marks.

"You know," Tyler said, looking down at the pile. "I'm starting to like this Razor-guy more and more."

"Come on," Don said. "We need to find him before he hurts himself." Passing the pile of metal they continued on, soon finding a turn in the road and a light at the end of the tunnel. They headed towards it. Before they could make it, though, something flew into Bomber causing him to fall into Jeff. Flashlights turned to find to find Razor, dazed with blood coming out the corner of his mouth and the beginning of a nasty bruise on his cheek.

"What happened?" Leo asked.

Razor just groaned.

Psych looked forward, mouth twisted in an ugly scowl. "Alexander."

"Well, well, well, look what the Earth swallowed." It was Alexander, the android that was supposed to replace Alex two years ago in the Labs of New York. He hadn't changed at all save for the fact that he was no longer missing the chunk from his shoulder where Razor had bit into him from behind.

"Razor killed you," Raph stated harshly as the group walked out of the hallway and into a circular room.

Alexander held a look of being the most intelligent one in the room and knowing it. "I can't be killed. Scissors over there, or whatever-his-name-is, merely ripped out my power core, something that is easily replaced. There's also the fact that my mind had a back up chip. I can remember _everything_," he added, glaring at Razor.

"You're nothing but a robot," Don said. He hadn't been there when Alexander was first introduced but he had heard the story, how Alex's replacement can been put out of commission just by finding a way to rip its energy core out.

"Android!" Alexander snapped to correct, tail blade striking the floor in irritation.

"You can still be dismantled," Don continued.

"We beat you once we can do it again," Raph said smugly.

"You know, for some reason, I doubt that," Alexander said and snapped his fingers. From the shadows of the room Leo, Raph, Razor, and even Dev appeared. "Say hi to my friends."

Hands started to reach for weapons. "Uh, hate to break it to you," Gorf said as he discreetly inched behind Raph. "But you're still outnumbered."

"Doesn't matter," Alexander said. "These guys don't bleed, don't tire, and are unable to feel mercy."

"And who exactly made them?" Jeff asked, hand tightening on the trigger of the flamethrower. There wasn't much fuel left, but there was enough to scorch a few things.

"I don't see why that is important information."

"Just wondering," Jeff said. "You were obviously created in New York, and I know my engineering. There's a good chance that someone else designed the others, who it is could say if they're a better version of android."

Alexander did not look happy with that idea. "As far as I know, they were made from a basic blueprint leftover from some wash up engineer who is no longer around," he answered sharply. "Beneath me, but good enough."

Jeff gave a thoughtful nod. "Alright. So, if they were made by an engineer that's no longer around this phrase should mean nothing: Voice activation on." The new replicas seemed to stand up a little straighter. "Code blue sixty-three, programming section two: erase original orders. New order input-"

"Shut up!" Alexander yelled. "Memory restoration; original orders in place, green light." The robotic Raph and Leo pulled their weapons while Dev and Razor got into fighting stances.

The non-robotic fighters drew their own weapons while Psych pulled Gorf back into the hallway they had come from. Tyler smiled with his crossbow "This'll be fun."

...---... ...---... ...---... ...---... ...---... ...---... ...---...

Mikey halted, hairs tingling on the back of his neck. Alex stopped too, fur bristling, ears twitching. Together they turned around to face something they would have never thought to find: "Zombies?!" Mike was right, skeletons – thirteen in all – were lumbering towards them with a red glow in the empty eye sockets, their bones looking ominous in the flickering torchlight that lined the walls.

Alex and Mike looked at each other. It wasn't much of a shock; skeletons following them out of a room laden with gold, in a life like theirs that wasn't that much of a surprise. With a shrug each they ran to meet the zombies head on, the undead weren't even armed, where was the threat?

The skulls seemed to somehow show surprise when the two ran right into the group of skeletons, bashing and tearing them apart as fast as they could before any counterattacks could be made. Soon they stood in the middle of scattered bones.

"Geez, I didn't even break a sweat," Mikey said adjusting his crown.

"Don't complain," Alex said and continued down the hall. "Let's keep going."

They got a whole ten feet before they heard spine tingling moans from behind them. The pair turned around to find the bones shaking and slowly moving across the floor to reassemble.

"Of course," Alex huffed.

However, instead of going back to the form of thirteen skeletons the bones moved together to create some kind of complex monster that stood so tall and wide that it took up the whole hall. It opened its mouth to billow out a scream, blowing a horrible stench into the faces of the living.

"And this is where we run," Mikey calmly stated, turned, and was gone so fast there was a teenager-shaped cloud hanging in the air. Alex wasn't far behind; the creature of bone right on her tail.

_Why does it always have to be skeletons? _Mikey thought as he ran down the sloping floor. _Actual zombies would be better, most of those have problems walking let alone chasing! _Another scream from the monster had them running faster.

Suddenly the floor underneath Mikey crumbled under his weight. He leapt forward, stumbled, caught himself and kept going. He looked over his shoulder to make sure that Alex jumped the hole, which she did. Mikey looked forward a second too late as the floor suddenly ended, momentum throwing him out into open air in a large room, a dry heat swallowing him, as he fell towards a black and red floor far below. When his mind vaguely took in the thought that he was falling, he jolted to the realization that he was falling head first toward a pool of lava and couldn't do a thing about it.

He squeezed his eyes shut, trying to brace himself for whatever level of pain that came from falling into a pit of magma. Thankfully he never found out when something gripped him around the middle from above and he was hanging there with a small ache in his gut. Staring down at the bubbling ground in relieved shock he watched his crown fall to the molten rock where it was gone forever, quickly followed by the zombie monster that fell to its final, fiery death.

"Hey Alex?"

"What?" Alex strained. Even with the mutation a well cared for teenager wasn't exactly a sack of feathers.

"I ever tell you how you're the greatest bat I've ever met?"

Alex didn't reply as they gradually dropped down. Going from one side of the room to the other was a narrow bridge of rock that sat only a few feet above the lava's surface. Numerous different tunnels branched off the room though all but one had lava coated floors. Alex managed to land them on the bridge. "Okay… now where to?" she asked.

"Are you okay?" Mikey asked.

"Yeah, why?"

"You're panting."

Alex closed her mouth before saying "It's an oven in here and I'm covered in _black_ fur. I'm. _Hot_. Now can we get out of here?"

Mikey nodded understandingly. He remembered last summer where it had been the hottest day of the year and he made the mistake of wearing a black, long sleeved shirt. It wasn't fun. Then he noticed something over Alex's shoulder. "But we're not going that way."

"Why not?" Alex huffed, turning around. Behind her was the only usable exit, but also behind her a pair of dark red hands were gripping the edge of the bridge. Alex and Mikey got ready for an attack but what heaved itself out of the lava pit looked more tired than brutal. It was a guy around Mikey's age with tough, dark red skin and hair the color of scorch marks. A strong, alligator-like tail protruded from his backside. His clothes consisted of a simple white wetsuit that didn't have the slightest hint that it had just been submerged in lava. He rubbed his eyes, thin layers of skin like a second set of lids that had been protecting his eyes, slid to the side. With a cough he spit magma back into the pit and looked around. Finding Mikey and Alex he jumped in surprise, fell off the bridge, and landed back in the lava with a _plop_.

Mike and Alex looked at each other in confusion then looked over the edge of the bridge.

The guy resurfaced and looked up. "Uh… hi."

"Hi."

The kid looked them up and down. Seeming satisfied that they were neither human adults or wearing lab coats he asked "Do you know the way out of here?"

"Uh, dude," Mikey said, crouching down, sweat now falling down his face. "You do know that you're sitting in lava, right?"

The guy nodded. "I'm Tony, virtually indestructible and moreover fireproof. You guys wouldn't happen to know the way out of here?"

Mikey shook his head. "We're looking for the way out too. You could come with us if you want."

Alex groaned and started for the tunnel at the end of the bridge. "I'm gonna get heatstroke… I'll meet you over there…"

"That's okay," Tony said to Mikey. "I'll stick to what I can handle. What's your name?"

"Michelangelo."

"Well Michelangelo, we're in a volcano, I might see ya later."

"Okay."

Tony gave a solute before diving into the lava and out of sight.

"Hm," Mikey straightened up and followed Alex, shirt damp around the neck hole.

"Who was that?" Alex asked from the cool darkness of the hallway.

"Said his name was Tony," Mikey said, looking over his shoulder. "I guess he's an experiment from here, ya know, like Nick and Tyler. Dude said he was gonna stay in the lava, wonder what its like to be able to stand that type of heat."

"Well anyway, come on," Alex said, and started down the hallway. "What are you doing?" she asked after looking over her shoulder to find Mikey walking backwards.

"Making sure nothing can come from behind."

...---... ...---... ...---... ...---... ...---... ...---... ...---...

Though there were nine living creatures against five robots, the fight, if not challenging, was confusing. It was impossible to tell which person was a robot until they tried to take someone's head off.

"Hey it's me!" Dev exclaimed with his hands up, back pressed against the wall with a sword at his throat. Unsure at first Leo stepped down only to get a swift kick to the plastron. It was becoming apparent that the robots' acting skills were as good as their appearances.

Across the room Tyler was raising his crossbow, ready to put an arrow through a Razor's head when something grabbed him from behind and jerked back just as he pulled the trigger. His arm moved, sending the arrow off in a random direction without a target. Soon after Nick yelped and looked behind him to find a wooden shaft sticking out of the seat of his pants. "_TYLER_!!!" he screamed.

Tyler was too busy fending off the fake Raph to say anything back.

"Man, I feel like we should be doing something," Gorf said from the safety of the hallway.

"Don't worry, 'dey- they can handle tim- themselves," Psych said back, pulling the collected cobwebs from his hair for the need to do something. Despite what he said, though, he could feel the confusion and uncertainty of the ones fighting.

"Jeff, can't you just finish your orders?" Gorf asked.

The ex-Labs engineer was leaning against the wall of the hall with crossed arms. "I would but if I tried that Alexander-guy would either cut me off or cut me up. I would also be out there, but that room's pretty full as it is and knowing my luck in fights when Nick and Tyler are in the same room I'd probably lose my other eye. There is another way… no there's a good chance they fixed that flaw."

"What? What flaw?" Gorf pressed.

"From what Alexander says the other robots were made from a simple blueprint I made when I still worked here. It was a generic frame, a way for all the robots to respond to the same commands but at the same time could look so much different from one another you'd never know they were made from the same person. There was always two fatal flaws, however, that I never got the chance to correct," Jeff explained. "See, the robot as a whole relied on two things; the mind and the power core. Problem was if either of those were to break the robot would become completely useless unless you had the original remote control. Then there was the manual off switch which had always been very sensitive – a quick jab could turn them off, easy."

"And where is this off switch?" Razor asked after getting thrown against the wall beside the doorway.

"Base of the neck," Jeff replied.

Razor gave an odd smile in thanks and jumped back into the fighting.

_That was the robot Razor, _Psych pointed out.

Jeff smirked. "Oh I know."

"Then why did you…" Gorf started then thought about it a moment. "It's a failsafe, isn't it?"

Jeff mumbled something under his breath about another flaw and leaned on his shoulder to watch the rest of the fight. Leo pulled himself off of Tyler. Bomber and Stripes went after the fake Raph (or, it _might_ be the fake one). Don and the real Raph were trying to take the fake Razor down. Nick, Dev and Razor tried to gang up on Alexander, but the droid wouldn't let Razor anywhere near him and Nick wasn't exactly at the top of his game with an arrow sticking out of his butt.

Raph swore loudly when the fake Razor chomped down on his arm. Don grabbed the shark to try and keep any further damage from happening. Raph acted swiftly, grabbed his sai, and jammed it down as hard as he could into Razor's head. The prongs broke through the robot's skull, stabbing the brain through a lucky shot. The body suddenly went limp, becoming a dead weight of heavy metal.

"Damn it," Jeff said, watching Don carefully pry the robot's jaws open. "They killed him too quickly."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Gorf asked.

"A third flaw was hidden in the programming. No matter who they're supposed to be, all of the robots under my design had a tendency to become very competitive with each other. They don't know where the off switch is for good reason; as soon as they find out they try to take each other down. I never figured why…"

"So if I just suddenly shout out: _robotic off switch, base of neck!_ Most of the current problem would be solved?" Gorf asked.

"Just watch," Jeff said and turned back to the fighting, or what was left of it. Alexander was still going strong, continuously throwing Razor across the room only for him to run right back while fending off Dev and Nick. Meanwhile the doppelgangers had stopped at the new information. There was a brief pause before the robots turned to map out their electric kin with something close to murder in their eyes. Then, the moment was gone and the fighting resumed, but now it wasn't solely about beating the organics.

The fake Raph did it first. In the middle of dodging blows, he managed to maneuver over to the fake Dev. When he was close enough he swung out and banged a fist against the back of Dev's neck. The robot crumpled to the ground with the high pitched sigh of a machine turning off. Then the fake Leo got in a sneak attack, jamming a thumb to the weak spot of the fake Raph and the same thing happened.

"Aw Leo, that is _cold_!" Razor said as he stumbled to his feet after getting thrown for the umpteenth time.

"You can't blame me for what that does," Leo defended when there was a third sigh of a shutting down machine. Everyone looked down to find the fake Leo on the ground with Don standing over it.

"What? I saw an opening," Don shrugged when Dev tumbled into his back, blood gushing out his nose.

"Damn design flaws…" Alexander snarled.

"I know they're horrible, aren't they?" Jeff asked with an annoyingly smug smirk.

Alexander started forward but suddenly stopped like a heavy force was holding him in place.

"I think that's enough," Psych said stepping into the room. "And I wish you'd stop struggling, this is hard enough as it is."

"Oh what could _you_ do?" Alexander challenged, still unable to move his limbs. "I don't have a real mind for you to burrow into."

"No," Psych agreed, hand tightening into a fist. He couldn't believe he was about to do this. "But you are made of physical matter, and my mutation did more than just make me taller." There was a moment where nothing happened, then there was the harsh sound of cogs breaking, followed by a wisp of smoke that floated out of the android's ear. Psych released his fist and Alexander fell to the floor with a fried microchip and a shattered energy core.

Dev looked down at the body with Razor's wadded up shirt pressed against his face, up at Psych, down, up… "You couldn't 'ave done tha' before 'e broke my noze?!" he exclaimed in a very pinched voice.

_I was hoping to be the last resort that was never used… Can we just forget this and continue?_

"Uh, sure," Leo said remembering what Psych had told him about not liking the ability to kill a person by tearing their mind apart. Now with telekinesis it's probably the same thing for him when it comes to androids who look a lot like people he knows – or how they used to look like.

"Except there's nowhere else to," Bomber pointed out.

"Hello people, I still got an _arrow_ in my _ass_!" Nick exclaimed, pointing behind him. The arrow had snapped at some point so it wasn't as noticeable but it was still there.

"Aw seriously Tyler?" Jeff asked in disbelieving disappointment.

"My arm was moved, my aim was destroyed! Not my fault his butt was there!"

"And this is why Sharp didn't give them a gun," Leo said.

"Smart move," Don added quietly before walking around Nick to check the damage. "It doesn't look too bad. I don't think it even bled."

"Yeah that's because the padding caught it," Nick explained.

"You pad your pants?" Raph repeated.

"After last time, hell yes!"

"You shoot a guy in the butt with an arrow and he just won't let it go." Tyler rolled his eyes, walked forward, grabbed the shaft and yanked. "There happy?" he asked when the arrow came out with no damage besides a hole in Nick's pants.

"'ey, waz 'iz?" Dev asked as he stood in front of a wall.

"Well az iz a wallz," Raph replied with a smirk.

"Oh 'a 'a 'a…" Dev laughed sarcastically over his shoulder and turned back to the wall. Jeff came forward to inspect. A deep line was carved into the rock creating a rectangle that was most obviously the outline of a stone door, but there wasn't a knob, a key hole or even hinges for that matter. At the average eye level a square was carved into the door with a knob. Jeff pulled on the knob to reveal a screen that flickered into life. Everyone crowded around to watch what would happen.

At first there was just a blank wall, then some incoherent mumbling sounded until a button-eyed, red-string-for-haired, looks-like-it-belongs-on-a-children's-TV show puppet suddenly popped up. "Hi!" it exclaimed in a very childish, hi pitched, very fake voice while it waved. "How's everybody doin'?"

"What… the… hell?" Raph voiced what everybody was thinking.

"Well, I guess Mr. Bird ain't doin' too well," the puppet continued. Dev scowled. "Buuut, it could be worse." The puppet turned from side to side like it was trying to think of what to say next. "Oh!" it held up a hand at an idea. "I guess I should show you something I'm sure at least one of you is thinking about." The puppet ducked out of view and the camera turned to show a view that reminded Razor why he had been ticked off before he ran into Alexander. It was Sharp; unconscious, hanging upside down by shackles around his ankles.

Razor took a step forward but Leo held him back. "It's just a screen."

"Yes, no attacking the screen please," the puppet said, popping back into view. "And besides, he's perfectly fine, see? No bleeding, no bruising, nothing's broken…" the puppet listed off when a loud beeping sounded off to the side.

"Ah, my cookies!" a male, adult voice exclaimed. The puppet disappeared, there was the sound of running footsteps and the screen turned off. A moment of silence followed before there was the sound of gears turning, the door jerked and swung open to reveal another dark hallway.

"That was…" Don tried to think of a good word. "Interesting."

"Interesting? That was F'n weird," Raph corrected. "Who was that?"

"I think I know," Jeff said and moved forward. "Come on."

"Oo waz eh?" Dev asked through Razor's bloodied shirt.

"One of the smartest idiots I have ever known," Jeff said as he started down the hallway. The others looked at each other, they didn't know who it could be but it was apparent that Jeff wasn't going to elaborate so they just followed him.

The hallway went about ten feet before being blocked by a train of mine cars sitting on a track. Another screen folded down from the ceiling and turned on, the same puppet from earlier appeared, this time holding a chocolate chip cookie in its hands. A string of its hair was on fire. "The cookies are okay!" it exclaimed in triumph. "Anyway, I am here to say that from this point you have two choices! Either take these cars into the unknown or turn back! I hope you chose wisely!" The puppet started to laugh before stuffing the cookie into its toothless mouth. The screen went blank and folded back up to the ceiling.

"I cull fruht!" Dev said and moved towards the first car but Leo grabbed his shoulder.

"Wait, if anything I wouldn't trust a couple of mine cars."

"But there's nowhere to go if we turn back," Razor pointed out. "We need to keep going forward, find a way to Sharp."

"He's right," Jeff said. "A couple of mine cars can't exactly be the safest bet for anything, but there's nothing for us if we turn back."

_I agree, _Psych put in.

Leo still wasn't sure but he agreed and let Dev clamber into the front car. There were three cars in all. The track was sloping downhill. Bomber, Nick and Tyler quickly joined Dev before anyone else could take the spots. The four fought loudly over leg room until they were situated into their own corners. Gorf, Raph, Stripes and Don climbed into the next car while Leo, Psych and Jeff took up the rear.

"Don, you okay?" Raph asked after noticing the troubled look on his brother's face.

"I'm fine," Don assured. "It's just that… I was thinking about how Mikey would love this."

"Everybody good?" Bomber called back.

A series of 'yeah's came in reply. Dev reached down and yanked on the break handle. With a jerk the cars started to move down the track, picking up speed as they gradually descended through the darkness.

There was no turning back now.

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SAY THE MAGIC WORDS – was what was written on the wall of the dead end Mikey and Alex were now standing before.

"Oh come on," Alex huffed. "What's this supposed to mean?"

Mikey stared at the wall thoughtfully. He had an idea but it couldn't be that easy…

Alex paced in growing aggravation. She was starting to get really tired of this place. "Mikey, any ideas?"

Mikey stared at the wall for a few more seconds before shrugging. "Open sesame?" There was a _boom_ and the wall lifted up to reveal a mine car waiting to be used. "Awesome!" Mikey breathed at the sight.

"That's a little random," Alex muttered as Mikey jumped right into it.

"Come on, Al! This is so sweet, let's go for a ride!" Mikey exclaimed as he took the break off. "Come on, give it a push."

"I don't see why not," Alex shrugged and started pushing the car along. When it started to get some momentum going Alex jumped in beside Mike, gripped the side, and prepared for the ride.

* * *

Yes, I'm still alive, and yes this chapter was long. Or maybe I just thought it was long becuase it took forever to write! Um, to explain the puppet: you as the reader already know that George is the man in charge, and George isn't exactly what you'd say to be... uh... he's not really an adult. But anyway, yes I know that Mikey isn't exactly the greedy type when it came to gold but anyone would want to take _something_ with all that gold sitting there. If not for the gold, then for what the gold could buy!

But anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter, the story is really nearing it's close now! So just hang in there and I want to say "THANK YOU" to all you guys that are sticking around to read everything that my mind is puking up... maybe that wasn't exactly the best choice of words, but whatever... I'm gonna go now.

**REVIEW!!!!**


	35. The Pacific Branch

**Chapter Thirty-Four**

**The Pacific Branch**

"_I'm a winter breeze in summertime_

_The world is broken, I'm just fine_

_Looking day and living night_

_But I'm alright"_

"Yes!" George exclaimed fists going into the air as the words 'YOU ROCK!' appeared on the projected screen before him, the next screen showing that he had gotten a 100% grading. In his victory he fell backwards, landing on the couch behind him, plastic guitar landing on his lap. "I love that song…" he sighed with a smile and took the white stick out of his mouth. Flicking it into a pile of other white sticks by the wall he took a new sucker from his pocket, unwrapped it and popped it in his mouth.

A few minutes passed as he sucked on the blueberry flavoring before becoming bored. Putting the guitar on the floor he picked up a wireless keyboard and played with the controls. A video feed of the 'waiting room' popped up on the projected screen. As expected Sharp was still hanging there by his feet, but the experiment was no longer unconscious.

George tilted his head in interest. "What're you doing?"

Sharp looked like he was trying to do a sit up, bending his knees and grabbing his legs, reaching up against the pull of gravity. With much grunting he finally managed to grab the chains around his ankles. Continuing to climb up the chain he started to bite down on the links.

"Ohshit!" George pushed the keyboard to the side, got to his feet and ran for the door. He knew that the shark would try to escape as soon as he woke up, that he was fine about, but he had remembered that he had forgotten to lock the room next to the waiting room. If anything he didn't want Sharp in there.

...---... ...---... ...---... ...---... ...---... ...---... ...---...

The sound of the mine car wheels on the track was deafening as it echoed around them when a light appeared at the end of the tunnel. The track evened out as they emerged into a large cavern, lit by the lava that made up the floor hundreds of feet below them while bats, and what looked like flying balls of fire, flew around the stalactites that hung from the ceiling. The track ahead of them was a twisting, spiraling, mess of up and downs.

Gripping the side of the car with two hands, Bomber grabbed Dev by the collar. "If we die here I'm gonna kill you!"

"You mean if you die 'ere," Dev pointed out, and received a smack.

"Where's this lead?" Leo wondered aloud trying to locate the exit.

"Not good," Don said also wondering about their fixed destination. He pointed over to where their track spiraled down with another track. One of the tracks ended at a drop right into the lava, the other continued on. The bad part was that it was too early to tell if the track that ended was the one they were on.

Across the room a single mine car appeared on the second set of tracks, the two passengers gripping the sides as they were jostled in the wheeled cube.

"This is awesome!" Mikey exclaimed happily at the free rollercoaster ride through the lava cavern.

Looking around Alex noticed the other train of cars. "Hey Mike, I think we found the others."

"Huh?" He looked over the first set of tracks. Braking into a smile he cupped his hands around his mouth to yell "Guys! Guys over here!" He waved an arm over his head when the car started up a tall hill. Looking forward the two could see that the bottom of the hill went down sharply and turned into a large downward spiral with the other track. Mike and Alex started down the hill as the others neared the spiral.

With the differences in weight the two groups hit their first curve of the spiral at about the same time. Now that they were at the spiral Don was able to see which track ended with a dip in a pool of lava. "Mike!" he called as their cars passed. "You're track… is a dead… end!"

"What?" Mikey called back.

Don pointed down at the bottom of the spiral. Alex saw the problem first. "Mike, you have to jump to their car."

"What?!"

"We're on a dead end; you have to jump over to them."

"What about you?"

"I'll be fine, you don't have wings I do," Alex reasoned before calling over "He's jumping!"

"On three," Don said as Alex helped Mike stand up onto the thin edge of the mine car. The jump had to be perfectly timed; if he missed… it was best not to think about it. "One…! Two…! Three!" Mikey jumped with Alex shoving from behind for good measure. Two of the three mine cars sped past. His right leg made it into the last car, but that was it. The back wall of the car hit his calf and he fell backwards.

Reflexes were all that saved him. Suddenly he found himself leaning uncomfortably backwards from the car, the top of his head inches from the track. Three pairs of hands pulled him up and set him in the car.

"Can we do that again?"

"No Mike," Leo answered as his brother looked across the way just in time to see the mine car that he had been riding in reach the end of the track and plunge into the lava. He gripped the side and searched the near area with his eyes.

"Where's Alex?" he asked as the group left the cavern.

...---... ...---... ...---... ...---... ...---... ...---... ...---...

Sharp closed the door behind him and leaned against it for a moment. He had a huge headache and his ankles hurt to walk. After a moment he tried to get over it and looked forward. He was in a large, dark room. The only light to be had were the soft glows coming from monitors that showed the vital signs of the vertical tube-like vats that filled the room in lines. It was eerily quiet; there wasn't even that high pitched buzz that came from machines – dead silence. It was the DNA fusion room; the place where experiments were born and mutated.

Sharp started forward looking around. There was another door at the back of the room that was a shortcut to the core of the Labs. As he went he looked at the glass vats out of habit, but it seemed that they were all empty, maybe the scientists had finally run out of ideas?

He was at the back of the room and was about to open the door to leave when the sound of bubbles caught his attention. Looking to the left he saw a light coming from the corner. Heading over to it he found a vat filled with a blue liquid that signified that it was in use. Floating inside was the beginnings of an experiment. It had yet to be fully formed, though it was already breathing, bubbles escaping from a slit that would soon become the mouth. Four small slits placed behind an ear moved lazily in the liquid: gills. The hands were incomplete, the fingers yet to finish growing and separate, but the feet were close to completion, showing webbing between the toes. The odd thing, though, was that when he circled around the vat Sharp found not the single bump that could be a dorsal fin, but the double lumps that marked the beginnings of wings.

"An aquatic flier?" he whispered in confusion and wonder. When he got back to the front of the vat he looked down at the control panel. Lifting a hand he lightly ran a finger over the touch screen, the images moving to his touch. The vitals showed that the heart was already beating, but there was little to no brain activity. Estimated time until completion was five days. The primary function was Black Ops, sabotage mostly. Running through the menus with a flick of a finger he found what he was looking for: the deletion option.

Hand hovering over the button he looked back up at the vat. If this being was a success it would be a true revolution. But if it wasn't it would be a total abomination, stuck somewhere between the fliers and the aquatics. Could he let that happen?

With a breath he found that his hand was shaking. Holding his breath he was about to hit the button when he was grabbed from behind.

"Oh no you don't!" George exclaimed yanking back. Sharp wound up stepping on his foot and they fell to the ground. Sharp quickly rolled to the side and got to his feet. He went for the control panel again, but George grabbed his foot and tripped him.

"Gr, let me go!"

"No! You're not deleting this one!"

Sharp kicked at the hand on his leg. "You have no right to be doing this!"

"Neither do you!" George exclaimed as they struggled on the ground, when Sharp did something a bit drastic and chomped down on the man's leg. George yelled in pain and brought his free foot down on the shark's head. Seeing stars Sharp's jaw loosened and George managed to push him off. Determined to keep his creation George pulled a pair of handcuffs from the pocket of his sweatshirt and quickly cuffed Sharp's hands behind his back.

"Hey, you asshole!" Sharp yelled when he realized that he couldn't move his arms.

"You started it," George said as he grabbed Sharp by the foot and commenced in dragging him through the room, the man limping on his bleeding leg.

Sharp was dragged all the way to the head scientist's room. Sharp had never been here and it wasn't what he had expected. Instead of some master control room it was more like a huge dorm room. A beat up old couch faced a wall with a projector hanging from the ceiling above it. Behind the couch a life sized sculpture of a person was being created completely out of used sucker sticks. Odd bits of trash and dirty shirts were scattered across the floor. Numerous different half finished projects lined shelves and empty floor space. A stove and microwave that had seen a few too many experimental recipes were stuffed in a corner beside a machine labeled 'Ultimate Food Dispenser of Food-Related Goodness', beside that was a soda machine. There was a desk with a chair against a wall beside a mattress that sat on the floor.

"You actually live here?"

"Where else am I supposed to live on an uncharted island in the middle of the Pacific?"

"The stomach of a tiger perhaps? Or maybe you could spend a night on a branch of those blood sucking trees."

"Oh bite me, wait, you already did!" George snapped angrily over his shoulder as he dragged Sharp over to his desk chair. When he reached down to pick the shark up he had to snatch his hand back before he lost a finger to the sharp mouth. "Stop trying to eat me!"

"I don't eat scum like you, it gives me indigestion," Sharp growled.

George put his hands on his hips. "Then why do you keep trying to bite me?!"

"I'll bite something off, doesn't mean I'll swallow."

"Nice to meet you too," George muttered as he picked Sharp up and threw him into the desk chair. Before Sharp could stand back up George grabbed what looked like a wire from his desk. George wrapped it around him, making the ends meet where they fused together. "Stay," he commanded like talking to a puppy.

"I can chew through metal chains, what makes you think I can't go through a stupid wire?"

"Go ahead and try, I have a leg to wrap and cameras to look at," George said as he pulled a first aid kit out from under the desk.

...---... ...---... ...---... ...---... ...---... ...---... ...---...

The tracks ended with a hard bump in a dark tunnel.

"Ride's over," Nick said as he jumped out of the car and missed the ground. "Gaaaaahhhh…!"

"Nick!" Tyler yelled looking over the edge, pointing his flashlight down to find a large hole on the side of the track. It was too deep to see the bottom.

"Dude, talk about look before you leap."

"Not now Mikey," Leo said.

"Dev get down there," Tyler ordered.

"Oo firzd," Dev ordered back.

"How deep is that?" Gorf wondered.

"It's probably a shoot that leads to the lower parts of the Labs," Jeff said. "I hate to say it and I really hate to say it, but unless you want to get caught yourself there's nothing we can do."

"That's right!" a squeaky voice exclaimed. A flying flat screen monitor zoomed in from down the tunnel. The puppet was back. "You can jump dow-" the monitor flickered off and fell to the ground after getting an arrow through the screen. A different monitor appeared seconds later. "That was rude," the puppet said. "Now as I was sa-"

Tyler snickered to himself as he put the crossbow down while the new screen fell to the ground.

"Stop it!" the puppet yelled when the third screen showed up, and a third arrow bounced off the screen. "Aha! Arrow-proof glass, nhe," the puppet stuck its tongue out in Tyler's direction. "Now as I was saying: You can jump down after him, I'm not gonna stop you, but it would be a little pointless considering what's waiting at the bottom."

"What's at the bottom?" Tyler demanded.

The puppet crossed its arms. "Oh you'd like to know, wouldn't you?"

"Just tell him!" Jeff said. "Stupid puppet…"

"He broke two of my hover TV's!" the puppet exclaimed. "You break I take, that's the rule and you know it, Jeffrey."

"Yes the break then the take, not the other way around, you piece of-"

"Hey, hey, hey, no need for name calling sheesh."

"Get this damn thing off me!" another voice yelled off screen.

"That sounded like Sharp," Razor said getting to his feet.

An actual man's voice yelped and cried "Would you stop freaking biting me!"

The puppet looked to the side, slapped a hand to its face and moved off camera. The monitor turned off and moved back down the tunnel.

"God I hate this place," Tyler growled as he jumped over the front of the mine car and stormed down the tunnel, flashlight searching for the holes that littered the ground.

"Yeah just leave us in the dark," Raph said.

Jeff put the flamethrower to the lowest setting the nozzle would go and created a torch. "Climb over the front, and watch your step."

Dev started to get out only to get shoved by Bomber. "Ow my noze!!" he exclaimed as he stumbled to the ground.

"That's it, come here bird brain," Bomber said grabbing Dev by the shoulders. He pulled Dev's hand away and quickly readjusted Dev's nose before he could protest.

"Ow!" Dev cried and miserably touched his nose.

"Oh you're fine," Bomber said and pushed Dev down the tunnel.

The group climbed over the cars and continued deeper into the volcano.

"Oh sure, just leave me behind…" Alex muttered, having gotten to where the tracks stopped just as everyone left. Sprinting forward she grabbed Mikey's shoulder. "Hey, remember me?"

_Well you disappear so much it's hard to worry anymore_, Psych commented.

"Ya do always turn up sooner or later, kid," Raph said.

"It's good to be loved guys, really…"

...---... ...---... ...---... ...---... ...---... ...---... ...---...

George watched the group move from the security cameras with night vision lenses while eating popcorn with a newly bandaged hand. To his let Sharp was making a kicking, muffled racket with duct tape over his mouth.

"They have a very big group," a squeaky voice observed. "It would be very bad if they all got here at the same time."

"That is a very good point," George agreed with the puppet sitting on the back of the couch beside him. "How shall I fix this?"

"I believe the sniper tactic works well."

"I was thinking the same thing!"

"Well you did program me."

"That I did Mr. Puppet that I did. So," he popped his knuckles "let the games begin."

Sharp rolled his eyes.

...---... ...---... ...---... ...---... ...---... ...---... ...---...

"I really don't like this place," Gorf thought aloud. "At least in New York you could see where you were goi- ah!" He just barely jumped to the side as the floor gave way beneath his feet. Gorf managed to stick to the wall instead of falling but Bomber didn't prove so lucky, a drawn out swear marking his exit.

"You just had to jinx it, didn't you?" Stripes accused when the floor quickly replaced itself making it impossible for them to do anything about the loss.

"No point in pointing fingers, everyone just stay on guard, it's impossible to tell how many tricks this place has," Leo said.

"I regrettably agree," Jeff said.

"Dude-" Mikey was cut off by three different hands appearing over his mouth.

"Shut it 'efore you give whoever's in control o' all this any ideas," Raph warned.

Mikey pushed the hands away from him. "I was just going to ask if we could keep going instead of just standing here? Because dude, you never want to be in a tunnel when your light source runs out of fuel. I mean, how much fuel does that flamethrower have anyway? And where's Tyler with the flashlight?"

"He never stopped walking, did he?" Jeff observed. "We better find him before he disappears too, come on."

They continued forward, wary of the floor that seemed to be growing into the habit of jumping out from under them. Eventually, starting to get on edge with the feeling of going to fall any second now, and by all means not wanting to get separated from everyone else, Gorf eventually found himself on the ceiling crawling upside down on the roof of the tunnel. Concentrating on staying stuck to the ceiling seemed to calm him.

"Why is that whenever you're in some enemy's lair or whatever there's always this long hallway?" Mikey complained after a short time of nothing happening.

"To get you to annoy us by asking questions," Raph replied when there was a splash. He looked down, picking his foot up. "What'd I just step in?"

"I think it's just water," Don said after crouching down for inspection.

"Water under a volcano?" Stripes asked in confusion.

"Why not?" Razor shrugged when there was the sound of something becoming dislodged.

"Okay, who touched what?" Psych asked looking around as Gorf suddenly fell from the ceiling. He had been expecting the floor to lurch, not the ceiling!

"Uh guys," Gorf said pointing up. A part of the ceiling had come down an inch, like a hatch that could be opened. In curiosity Jeff reached up with his metal hand and tried to grip the ledge. "I don't think that's a good idea," Gorf said. Ignoring him, Jeff got something of a grip and pulled down. The hatch moved a few inches creating a crack of an opening. From that opening a trickle of water appeared.

"That can't be good…" Jeff muttered backing up from what he had uncovered.

_Narrow underground tunnel + water = not good._ "When we die I'm blaming you guys," Dev said as he, too, backed away from the leak.

"What can a little bit of water hurt?" Razor asked optimistically.

"Well technically it's possible for a person to drown in as little as-"

"Don you wouldn't be helping."

"Come on," Mikey said. "What's the chance that that is connected to some water pipe that's ready to burst?" As he said it the trickle of water turned into a weak stream, quickly growing stronger by the second.

Dev started backing up. "You guys say whatever, I'm outta here."

Not having very fond memories of liquids herself Alex started to follow when an entire section of the ceiling fell down like a hatch to an attic. It crashed to the floor and with it came a tidal wave of water. It came so sudden and strong it knocked everyone off their feet as it swept them away. Then to top it off the nozzle of the flamethrower got doused and they were plunged into airless darkness.

Seconds of tumbling through the breathless blackness ticked by, those that had to weren't sure how much longer they could hold their breaths. Minds were going numb, bodies panicking at the loss of oxygen, when they were flushed out of the tunnel and into a large black space where gravity took back the reigns. The fall was just long enough for when they broke the surface of a liquid it stung but wasn't lethal.

Much needed gasps and coughs filled the air when those without gills found the surface.

Coughing and sneezing from snorted water Psych called out with his mind _Everyone okay?_

"Define okay," Mikey coughed.

"There better not be salt in this water," Jeff said. "This arm is heavy enough; I don't need it getting crusty."

"Where are we?" Leo wondered aloud. A wet clicking sound replied.

"…sounds like a big room," Alex said. "And Dev's in the air."

"I hate water," Dev said from above them with the quiet sound of flapping wings.

"How could you tell?" Mikey asked.

"I'm three quarters bat, think about it."

"Who's touching me?!" Raph suddenly exclaimed when a light appeared from under the water's surface. After a moment a flashlight bobbed up from the depths. Raph grabbed it. A ring made from inflatable raft material had deployed around the top of the flashlight at some time allowing it to float. "Hey, wasn't Tyler carrying this?"

Jeff came forward to take a look. "Yeah it is, but where's Tyler?"

A patch of bubbles appeared off to the side. A few seconds later Razor, Gorf and Stripes appeared. "Man the water down there's so warm…" Gorf sighed dreamily.

Stripes nodded in agreement. "Just the right temperature for a good sleep."

"Hey everyone okay?" Razor asked after noticing the others.

"You guys didn't happen to see Tyler down there, did you?" Leo asked.

All three of them shook their heads. "It was dark though," Gorf said. "We could look again, this pool is pretty deep," he offered and Raph tossed him the flashlight. Gorf grabbed the flashlight and dove, Stripes and Razor right behind him.

While they waited for the three to return, hopefully with Tyler, an odd buzzing sounded. A light appeared from above and lowered to reveal itself as another hover TV, the same puppet on screen. "Hello soggy survivors!"

"What do you mean by survivors?" Leo demanded.

"Well you fit the definition of survivor, don't you?"

"There's more than one definition," Don pointed out suspiciously.

The puppet held a finger up like an instructor. "A person who continues to function or prosper in spite of opposition, hardship, or setbacks, though I have to point out that you do seem to be a bit stuck. Not all of you have gills."

"Nah, really? Hadn't noticed," Raph growled sarcastically.

The puppet seemed to ignore him. "This should prove to be a problem to you, especially those that refuse to swim," he directed at Dev who had his arms crossed. "But nonetheless I'm sure at least one of you will figure something out. And just to speed things along a bit you have three-hundred seconds to sort things out before the robots arrive. Good luck!" With that the hover TV turned off and the buzzing went away.

"That damn thing is starting to get annoying," Raph muttered.

"Dude it's just a puppet," Mikey said.

"Which is why it's annoying!"

"Yes, it was created solely to annoy you, Raph," Don said. "And besides, this isn't the time to be talking about puppets, we have five minutes to find a way out of here."

"No, the puppet-guy said we have three hundred seconds," Mikey corrected then thought about it. "Wait… what's sixty times five?"

"Save the math lesson for later," Leo said. "Dev can you find an opening or anything on the walls? Maybe the one we fell from?"

"Oh yeah, because it's as bright as day in here," Dev said but the sound of his wing flaps got quieter as he moved away.

"Psych, can you hear Tyler, or anyone else that's disappeared?" Jeff asked.

"Disappointingly no, but a number of things could be the reason," Psych replied.

Razor, Gorf and Stripes reappeared with the flashlight. "Negative on Tyler," Gorf reported.

"Same goes for the exit plan as far as I can see," Dev said from above. "Which isn't much," he added.

"We found an underwater tunnel," Razor informed. "But it's about fifteen feet down, and it's near impossible how long it is."

"How long can you guys hold your breath?" Stripes asked.

"You're joking, right?" Dev said.

"Unless you can find another way we're kind of stuck here," Stripes pointed out.

"I'd rather wait for the robots," Dev said stubbornly.

"Okay, bye Dev," Psych said. "Guys, lead the way."

"We'll try to keep this short, there's some kind of weak current going through the tunnel so that should make things somewhat easier. It also promises that the tunnel actually leads somewhere," Stripes said as the group dove, taking the light with them.

Dev flapped there in the dark for a few moments before huffing and grudgingly diving into the water. He managed to uneasily catch Stripes by the ankle. Stripes turned around smiled, and grabbed Dev's wrist to help him down.

Just like Razor had said, there was an underwater tunnel a ways under the surface. Without hesitation they started down it, Razor leading the way with the flashlight in hand. The current going through the tunnel indeed made their swimming faster but not by much.

After a worrying, though short, amount of time the light of the flashlight finally hit something. The bad part was that it was a wall with a ten digit combination lock. There didn't seem like an easy way to scrape the wall open with his teeth. _Psych, _he reached out. _Tell Gorf to get up here _now.

Gorf came up and saw the lock. His face fell. He could figure the lock out eventually but he didn't have the kind of time to try, and the pressure of knowing how little time he had wasn't helping. Gorf looked at Razor, Razor looked at Gorf. _Sure, the _one_ time you don't want to take something apart with your mouth… _Gorf thought. Then everything got worse.

Don, who was near the back of the group, suddenly got a sharp pain from his ankle. It was sheer self control that kept him from trying to suck in a breath. Suddenly lights came on along the tunnel blinding a few. Don looked down in the new light to find what looked like a metal alligator the size of a young Labrador locked onto his leg. Raph ran a sai through the robot and forced the jaws open.

Stripes, who was in the back, looked behind him and pushed Dev forward before he took a robot to the arm. A red light started flashing in the tunnel just to make things worse as Stripes watched more of the robots headed right for them. Thankfully the wall with the combination lock started to lift of its own accord. Everyone started to move under it. Just as it got all the way to the ceiling it immediately started to come back down. It was nearly back to the floor when Dev and Don went under; all that was left was Stripes who was fending off a school of the robots, kicking and biting through them. Don motioned for him to hurry up. Stripes looked over his shoulder with an expression that Don didn't like. 'Go' he mouthed.

Don wished he could grab Stripes and pull him under the wall, but it hit the floor before he could get the chance. He hit the wall with an open hand as the tunnel started to drain after Razor found an actual plug in the floor and pulled it.

As the water level dropped grateful intakes of breath were made.

"That wasn't so bad," Razor told Dev.

Dev shook his wings, wringing out his shirt. "I'm soaking wet, its going to take hours for my wings to completely dry and- Don's bleeding."

"What happened?" Leo asked as Don leaned against the wall inspecting his bloody ankle.

"The robots came when the wall opened. One snuck up on me, its fine, but Stripes stayed behind. I wanted to pull him back but there wasn't enough time."

Psych had his head down, eyes looking around blindly. He winced and grabbed his hand. Then, sighing, he shook his head. "Stripes took them out," he narrated but frowned. "Then I lost him, he was probably knocked unconscious somehow."

"Damn it," Jeff muttered. "He's playing that stupid game…"

"Who? And what game?" Leo demanded.

"The head scientist, he's mimicking a game he played once: Nonlethal Sniper. It was a puzzle game; the objective was to take the targets out of the picture one by one but not to kill them. We're just pawns in his games."

"That's not true," a voice said from the ceiling. They looked up to see a dripping intercom. "You all're your own individual players, like in Dungeons and Dragons and I'm the dungeon master. And you should know better than to judge me off the bat like that 'il Jeffy, and to prove this point I'll give you guys a shortcut. Good luck."

The floor under their feet suddenly lurched sideways and the wall beside them disappeared sending them tumbling down a slope that turned into a slick slide. The slide was short and they spilled from the wall of a dark room.

"Now where are we?" Dev asked after pushing Gorf off of him.

Mikey got to his feet and searched for a wall. He patted the wall with his hands searching for a light switch. After banging his knee on something short and hard his hand grazed a switch and the lights turned on. The room before them was rather small and looked like the aftereffects of a mine field. Discarded clothes were scattered on the floor while electronics took over most available surfaces along with small wooden figurines while drawings were taped to the walls. It looked like the room hadn't been lived in for years with the thick layers of dust on everything.

"This looks like a bedroom," Gorf stated.

"That's because it is- or was," Jeff said. "It was my personal work station when I was still here. As many inventors, engineers and the like know: it's best to have a bed as close to the work bench as possible. Surprised it was never cleaned out for recycling." Going over to the workbench he ran a hand over a line of levers. "Let's see, wrenches and hammers, explosives, blue prints…"

Gorf hopped forward. "What're you looking for?"

"My nurse's office," Jeff said and pulled a lever. An entire section of the ceiling lowered to show a shelf holding bottles of medicine, pain killers, bandages, disinfectants, band-aids…

Looked over the bottles, Mikey picked one up. "What's with all the cough syrup?"

Jeff took the bottle back with a cough. "I, _ech-hm_, didn't have very many buddies in the Chem. Department, greedy bastards kept all the homemade alcohol to themselves and uh- heh, guy in early twenties, secluded on an uncharted island, and the only women to be found are either digital or knew how to use a needle threateningly- uh, you know what," he changed the subject and grabbed a bandage "let's help that ankle, Don take a seat."

After bandaging Don's ankle and ignoring the looks he got for the reasons of the cough syrup Jeff led the way out of the room and entered what looked like the assembly room of a factory. Assembly lines and complex machines controlled the room. Nothing was turned on at the moment and the place was empty. Jeff pointed to the other side of the room to a door with a set of bars keeping it closed. "That's the door to the core room; from there we can get to any room of the complex. The only way across the room, though, is to go around by the wall."

"What if someone comes?" Gorf asked.

"If we move no one'll see us. Besides it looks like this room is remote operated. The control panel is up there," he pointed up to a catwalk that connected to a ledge sticking out of the wall.

"Che, this place is so empty why don't we just cut across?" Dev said and moved over the first assembly line.

"Wait-" Jeff started but it was too late. As soon as Dev's foot hit the conveyer belt it turned on and started moving. Dev stumbled back as the entire room started up. Mechanical arms folded out from a main sphere that sat in the center of the room. It appeared to be the thing that did most of the work on the assembly line and it was reaching right for them.

"Oops…"

"The machine must think we're equipment that fell off the line," Don guessed.

"Doesn't matter what the machine thinks," Mikey said. "We need to split, like, now!"

...---... ...---... ...---... ...---... ...---... ...---... ...---...

"Impatience, the fault of many plans gone wrong," George sighed in amusement as he lounged on the couch.

Sharp groaned as he sagged in the chair, when his butt fell out of the seat and the cable that was holding him to the chair was against his neck. He tried to look up over the desk; George was still watching the camera feeds on the couch, his back to the desk. Sharp turned his head to the side and continued to slide. The cable wasn't very tight and he fell out of the chair.

Smirking behind the duct tape he slowly pulled his legs up to him and pushed his hands underneath him. With his hands finally in front of him and useable he slowly pulled the duct tape from his mouth with much wincing and stiffening muscles. When the tape came off he looked towards George with a sharp toothed smile.

* * *

I'm alive! I really do want to finish this story, and it is closing, eventually. I'll try to update more often but I'm working on other stories that I want to finish get published, those of which are also nearing their end. And I solute those that have read all the way to this chapter. If not loved a feel appreciated! ^_^ though a couple reviews would make me feel even better...


	36. Dungeon Master

**Chapter Thirty-Five**

**Dungeon Master**

Like mice faced against a cat, they the group scattered, giant mechanical clamps chasing after them, directed by the cameras built into joints between the clamps. At first it seemed like nothing could be done. It was déjà vu of the time in the forest with the blood sucking trees. The only thing they could do was run around and keep from getting grabbed.

At one point Razor did manage to get all the way to the other side of the room and was faced with the metal bars barricading the door. He tried to sink his teeth into them, but before he could get anywhere he was shoved from the side, Alex jumping back as the robotic clamp hit the wall.

"Can you bite through?" Alex asked.

"Maybe if I had a few minutes without interruption," Razor said. "And even then I'm not sure, this stuff tastes tough!"

Leo, who had overheard, didn't like the sound of that. "Jeff!" he called. "How do we open the door?"

Jeff ducked underneath a metal clamp. "We could try to override the mechanics manually," he suggested. "But someone would have to make it to the control panel in order to do that."

Leo looked around. The room was a jungle gym of moving conveyer belts that entered and exited the room to places unknown. "Don, can you make it to the catwalk and get to the control panel?"

Don looked up as he dodged the growing annoying mechanical arms. No point in not trying, he started up the belts. It was tricky going from one moving platform to the next, usually platforms that were moving in opposite directions and at different speeds, while dodging robotic arms that appeared from every direction, but he was a scientific teenage mutant ninja turtle! Tricky was practically his middle name.

However, just as he was about to jump to the catwalk he was grabbed by the ankle and was hanging upside down before he knew it.

Down below Psych narrowly dodged one of the clamps only to find that he jumped right into the forceful grip of another arm. Kicking his legs and wriggling showed to be of no help as the arm lifted him up. He tried to pry it open with his mind but before he could succeed he was dropped onto a conveyer belt where straps appeared to hold him in place, going over his shoulders, middle and legs.

"You have got to be kidding," he muttered when he heard a loud thumping noise slowly growing louder. Lifting his head he looked down the belt and paled. Coming towards him was a giant block that was smacking down onto the belt in timed intervals, behind the block was a hole in the wall that had a red glow lighting the darkness. Above the hole was a sign that read "recycling center". _SERIOUSLY?!_

On the floor Raph was getting very fed up with the arms. "Ain't there any way to stop these damned things?!" he yelled.

Jeff's eyes went to the sphere on the floor in the center of room. _The best way to get rid of something is to take it out at the source;_ he thought logically and moved for the sphere.

Looking over the metal exterior Jeff had to think a moment. "I knew I should have made that blade upgrade…" he muttered and looked around the room. "Leo! Throw me a sword!" Leo threw down a katana and Jeff caught it by the blade with his metal hand. He managed to make a slice in the metal big enough to fit his fake fingers in and pull a section back.

Inside the sphere he found the usual stuff: circuits and gears but no obvious off switch. Thinking fast his eyes slipped to his arm. "Damn it," he huffed, flattened his hand, and shoved the artificial limb into the gears.

The sound of metal grinding on metal made Jeff clentch his teeth but it was a small consequence as the metal arms shut down.

Jeff tried to pull back but his arm was hopelessly jammed. With a huff he reached for the clasps that connected the arm to a base set in his shoulder.

When the arms stopped Don managed to slip free of the metal clamp around him and fell down onto a moving conveyer belt. Now only needing to concentrate on timing he reached the catwalk and moved for the control panel that was littered with unlabeled knobs, levers, switches and buttons.

"Little help here!" Psych yelled, still moving for the block that was getting ready to squash him flat. Alex appeared next to him pulling, and slicing at the restraints but they wouldn't be cut.

The conveyer belt underneath them suddenly jerked and sped up, going faster to the ancient experiment's doom.

_Always knew I'd die in a lab_, Psych thought to himself _but I was expecting a_ _disection table. Getting crushed under a giant block on a recycling conveyer belt… didn't see that coming._

With another jerk the conveyer belt slowed. Then it started going in reverse only to jerk again and was back moving forward.

"Don what're you doing up there?!" Alex shouted up.

"I'm working on it!" Don called down.

Finally the belts completely stopped with Psych right underneath the crushing block _that was still moving_!

With a mind shattering impact the block dropped down and Psych just barely managed to catch it with a mental barrier. The block lifted up and struck down again. On the third strike Psych was turning pale with clenched teeth.

"_DON_!" Alex yelled.

"Sorry!"

The sixth mental hit with the block started the nosebleed. The eighth time passed and he knew he wasn't going to hold out until ten. On nine the conveyer belt jerked and they moved though the block still smacked against the barrier. The tenth time line stopped and the block hit an inch above Psych's head as the restraints retracted.

There was a moment of silence as the machines stopped and the door to the core room opened.

"That wasn't so bad," Mikey commented brightly and received a smack from Raph and Dev.

Alex helped Psych to the ground while Gorf appeared and both of them became leaning posts for Psych who was trying not to pass out.

Jeff finally managed to pull free of the machine that had controlled the mechanical arms, leaving his destroyed artificial limb in the gears.

Don climbed down from the catwalk. "Sorry," he said again to Psych.

_It's fine…_ the mental voice groaned as Psych held his head in one hand, the other hand holding steady on Alex's shoulder. _Let's just get out of here._ Everyone agreed to that and headed for the core room.

...---... ...---... ...---... ...---... ...---... ...---... ...---...

"Wow, they handled that better than I thought they would," George commented as he glanced up at the camera feeds that were projected on the wall. There was a growl from underneath him and he went back to what he was doing.

It had taken him by complete surprise when Sharp had tackled him off the couch. From there they had wrestled across the floor while Mr. Puppet shouted encouragements from the sidelines.

Finally George managed to pin Sharp to the floor face down with only minor bites in addition to his already bitten hand and leg. He grabbed an extra pair of handcuffs out from under the couch and cuffed Sharp's left wrist to his right ankle.

"Hey!" Sharp yelled in protest when he figured out what happened. "Son of a-"

"Hey no bringing mom into this," George interrupted. "And why do you hate me so much anyway?"

"Why do you think?!"

"I don't know! This is the first time I've met you face-to-face!" George pointed out truthfully. "You've been terrorizing the Labs before I got the top chair. So what's your beef with me?"

"You're a filthy scientist that shouldn't even be allowed to breathe," Sharp spat as he struggled against the cuffs.

"That's racism- or is it career-ism?...what?"

"Ugh."

...---... ...---... ...---... ...---... ...---... ...---... ...---...

The core room was the heart of the Labs. A spider web of catwalks reached out through the hollow ball of a room. Fifty feet beneath the catwalks was a sea of what looked like black tar. In the very center of the room was the core; a humongous glass orb filled with a glowing red energy.

"Whoa…" Mikey said as they came forward. "It's a light bulb- _ow!_" he suddenly exclaimed and rubbed the back of his head.

"You deserved that one and you know it."

"It's the main power source," Jeff said.

"So, theoretically, what would happen if it happened to shut off?" Gorf asked.

"Slash get ultimately destroyed?" Alex added.

"Worse case scenario: the doors would no longer work and we'd be stuck in here in complete darkness," Jeff answered.

"What about the floor suddenly becoming alive and growing tentacles of tar?" Mikey asked looking over the railing of the catwalks. Everyone else looked down to find that Mikey spoke the truth.

"This place isn't going to cut us any slack, is it?" Dev muttered as the tar shot up in a black pillar and slammed down onto the catwalk. The group barely had time to jump out of the way.

"Let me guess, this is the security system," Raph said.

"Basically, something's gotta protect the core," Jeff said. "Come on, we gotta get out of here." They ran after him towards one of the exits jumping over and sliding under thrashing pillars of tar.

One of the pillars managed to crash down onto Dev. He yelled out as it tried to drag him off the catwalk. He barely managed to grab the edge of the walk as it pulled down on his legs. He tried to pull himself up, flapping his wings, but the tar was pulling down too hard.

Gorf grabbed his wrists only to get pulled down himself. Alex caught his ankle in one hand and grabbed the railing with the other hand.

"Stop sliming, Gorf!" Alex growled feeling the ankle slip through her grasp.

"I can't!" Gorf cried.

Leo ran forward to help but before he reached them Alex lost her grip. Before anyone could react Dev and Gorf were shot down and swallowed by the tar in the blink of an eye.

Alex sat there frozen for a second in disbelief before Leo was pulling her by the arm toward the exit. The door slid shut behind them and Alex kicked it.

A flash of concern went across Jeff's face; he didn't know where the tar went, if anywhere at all.

...---... ...---... ...---... ...---... ...---... ...---... ...---...

"This must be very uncomfortable for you," George commented as he watched Sharp wiggle and thrash. After a short while the experiment finally started to get it and he stopped moving, hitting his forehead on the metal floor. "Look, I'm a reasonable guy," George began. "Abnormal, yes, I admit, but reasonable all the same. I mean, I wouldn't like it if I was stuck in your position so I'll make you a deal: you stop trying to bite-slash-kill me and I won't restrain you."

"And you'd trust me just like that?"

George nodded.

"On my word?"

"I'm a trusting guy."

_Trusting or stupid? _Sharp thought but hid it with a look of interest mixed with defeat. "Okay," he said quietly.

George smiled a sincere smile and came forward with a small key. He undid the handcuffs and stepped back as Sharp stood up. The shark brushed himself off and suddenly whipped out a fist hitting George in the stomach, forcing him to bend over on impact. Bringing his knee up Sharp hit him in the face, twisted and kicked him in the side of the head with his heel. George hit the floor with groan and was knocked out by a second kick to the face.

"You know, for being a scientific genius, you're an idiot," Sharp said and heard a _click_. Looking to the side he saw the little robotic puppet holding a gun. It tried to shoot but the gun bucked, the aim went wide and Sharp had enough time to run over to it, grab it, pull the gun from it's hands and duct tape it to the floor from the roll on the desk. "Now then," he said looking around. "How can I shut this place down?"

After a moment he realized that there was no actual control panel in the room. So, with all logic, he went to the wireless keyboard that was still on the couch. He tried to play with it but no matter what he pressed nothing happened.

After a moment he was fed up, grabbed the puppet's gun and headed for the door only to find that it wouldn't open. He tried to ram it but bounced off. He shot it multiple times but not even a dent appeared. There was a hand scanner to the side but of course it wouldn't read his prints. So, he went back to George's body, dragged the unconscious man to the scanner and struggled to press the human's hand to the scanner. It scanned the prints but again the door didn't move.

He started to realize something after some time. "I'm locked in?"

...---... ...---... ...---... ...---... ...---... ...---... ...---...

Alex was clearly angry with herself with bristling fur. Jeff seemed a bit lost even though he was leading the way. Psych was still recovering from the mishap with the block that had tried to squash him flat. Don still kind of felt guilty about Psych's pain while Mikey suddenly realized something.

"We're all that's left. Down to seven people. What's gonna happen now? This is usually the most crucial part in any kind of search party."

"We're going to keep heading forward," Leo said calmly. "Jeff, can we reach the main control room from where we are?"

"Yeah, it should be at the end of this hall," he said as they turned into an intersection and went down a corridor that at first seemed like it was a dead end. Upon closer inspection, however one could see a crease in the wall. "Hopefully I'm still in the system," Jeff muttered and put a hand on the middle of the door. A blue square lit up and scanned his hand. The blue turned to green and the door opened up. "Huh, that was easy."

"Yeah, too easy," Leo commented.

"Maybe not," Don said as they cautiously moved into the room and found George knocked out on the floor.

"Who is that supposed to be?" Raph asked.

"Well considering that this is the top chair's room," Jeff said as he headed over to the vending machines against the wall. "That's the head scientist."

"He doesn't look it," Mikey observed when Razor exclaimed,

"Sharp!"

Sharp slid off the desk he had been sitting on and met Razor in his embrace.

"What happened?" Mikey asked, nudging George with the toe of his shoe.

"I knocked him out," Sharp said simply when Razor released him. "But when I did it seemed like everything stopped working."

"There's probably a reason for that," Jeff said as he grabbed two bottles of water from the vending machines and swore when he realized he only had one hand.

"What happened to you?" Sharp asked.

"Machine mishap," Jeff replied. "Would someone open these and dump them on his head?"

Leo and Don took the bottles.

"Why should we wake him up?" Alex asked. "We should kill him now for the scientist he is."

"Because if we ever hope to get out of here we'll need his cooperation," Jeff answered as Don and Leo emptied the bottles out.

Gradually George woke with a groan. He sat up with a hand to his head and had to use the couch for support in order to stand up. It wasn't until after he was standing and trying to remember what happened when he noticed who all were in the room. With a startled jump he tripped on couch, flipped over backwards, somehow landed on his feet, stumbled and hit the floor. He stumbled back to standing with his hands up. "'Ey guys…" he tried innocently and ducked under a laser that had almost gone through his head. Straightening he glared at Sharp and was unaware that Jeff had moved until he was grabbed by the shoulder and was pinned to the wall before he knew it. "Hi Jeff! Long time no see, heh heh."

"Don't 'long time no see' me you bastard," Jeff growled.

"Ow, that really hurts," George said pathetically. "After all these years thought you'd be happy to see me…"

"You poisoned me!"

"No I didn't," George protested coolly. "You see, even though those fruit were in fact my design I'm not the one that poisoned you. You ate it yourself, it's not like I physically stuffed it down your throat." He saw the muscles in Jeff's right shoulder try to move. "Ha, yeah, try to punch me. Oh wait; you don't have that arm anymore. Pity."

With a scowl Jeff threw George sideways into the waiting claws of Alex who easily held him in place. Jeff came forward with a balled up fist.

"Wait, come on man, this is no way to treat family!"

"Family?" Leo repeated looking at the obvious differences in appearance between the two.

"We're brothers!" George said with a wide, pleading smile.

"_Step_-brothers," Jeff repeated.

"Oh come on, that didn't mean anything to you before now," George said. Jeff was still coming forward with his fist. "Wait, wait, wait, uh- if you don't hit me I'll… I'll tell you where your friends are!"

Jeff faltered. "Where?"

"They're somewhere," George said. "If you'd let me go I could show you."

"I don't think so," Alex said, grip tightening.

"Ow, hey, I bruise easy! And I already have a headache... Seriously though, if you'd let me get to my keyboard I could show you."

"It doesn't work," Sharp said.

"Not for you maybe," George said annoyingly. "I made some changes to the keys. It only responds to my touch. So if you'd be so kind as to let me go… uh… Alex. Come on, you can trust me, I ain't got any weapons and I don't have a death wish! And even if I did I'm completly out matched," he admitted. "I mean look at this. You got strong- ehm, _really_ strong Alex here, those two," he pointed over at Sharp and Razor "both have shark teeth and he stole my gun, I don't even wanna mess with those four," he jerked a thumb towards the turtles and Mikey "you've always been able to kick my butt," he directed at Jeff "and I don't even wanna think about what you could do," he told Psych.

Jeff huffed. "Fine, Alex let him go."

Without a word Alex released the scientist, though her tail was scraping the ground as she did.

George straightened his sleeves out and went to the couch. Putting his back to the wall he messed with the keyboard and the screen projected on the wall as a video feed popped up to show an empty room that held everyone that had disappeared during their progress to the main room. They all looked fine except Stripes who was babying a bloodied hand while Dev and Gorf were pulling black tair from their hair.

"There see?" George said. "All accounted for."

"Bring them here," Sharp demanded.

"What are you crazy? I know for sure Nick's gonna kill me, and if he doesn't Tyler will!"

"And if you don't I will," Alex growled.

"Fine…" George sighed and hit a few buttons on the keyboard. A section of the wall beside the vending machines jerked and slid to the side to reveal the room that was holding the other experiments. Before anyone said anything George was ducking underneath a flying arrow. He quickly held down the Ctrl and Alt buttons and hovered a finger over Tab. "Hey!" he exclaimed as Tyler reloaded and tried to shoot again when Gorf grabbed his arm ready to listen knowing that a scientist with any form of control panel was bad news. "I push this key and a super magnet in this wall turns on. And yes, I'm looking at you Mr. Metal-Pinned grenade belt."

Nick scowled.

"You wouldn't do that. The blast would kill you too," Don reasoned.

"So?" George shrugged. "You know I was voted most likely to kill myself in high school."

"You gotta be bluffing," Mikey said with a nervous smile.

George looked Jeff in the eye.

"Weapons down," Jeff reluctantly ordered.

"But-"

"_Down_ Tyler."

Grumbling Tyler lowered the crossbow.

"You're actually going to listen to this nut?" Sharp asked.

"I have to _because_ he's a nut."

George smiled when the keyboard in his hands jerked and flew from his grasp. Psych caught it with a smug smirk.

"Right, forgot about the telekinesis… Wait, wait, wait!" the outnumbered scientist exclaimed when there were numerous threatening moves towards him. "Look, it's like- what? Thirteen to one? Can't you give a guy a fighting chance?"

"After what you've done?" Sharp said. "Not likely!"

"Oh come on, what have I done exactly?" George challenged.

"All the other experiments held prisoner here," Stripes started off.

"They were here before I got head chair."

"The poison fruit!" Nick accused. "Marko and Ruth!"

"Hardly," George replied. "Yes I made the fruit and put the seeds in the forest but you're the ones that ate it, I have nothing to do with that."

"The monsters," Dev said.

"Gotta keep the ecosystem on this island going," George shrugged innocently. "Not my fault you became part of the food chain."

"Those vampire trees in the forest," Mikey brought up.

"Again, the ecosystem, and I didn't make you go through those trees. You could have easily gone around them; they were only in a single section of the island."

"What about Psych and Alex!" Gorf exclaimed.

George opened his mouth but faltered with an 'oh crap' expression. Trying to recover he said "So… you're not happy being bigger?" to Psych. "I mean come on; I've seen your file. You've been five-years-old for how long? I thought you'd be happy being taller, stronger, faster, able to eat, and telekinesis to boot? That's a pretty awesome trade if you ask me."

"And me?" Alex growled.

"That was honestly a mistake. The spider was only supposed to have enough mutagens for one shot not two, and it was on auto-pilot. Its orders were to find Psych over here, after that I guess it went rogue. It would have bitten anything it came into contact after its orders were through. It could have been you just as easily as anyone else. Not my fault you picked it up instead of squashing it. So there" George crossed his arms in triumph "you can only pin me for one thing."

"Good enough for me," Raph said grabbing his sias. The others nodded.

George put his hands up with a small look of panic. "Seriously, come on! Can you at least give me a chance for my life? A few games that's all I ask. Best two out of three. You win I die, no fight. I win… we'll see, alright?"

"You'll cheat," Mikey accused. "They always do."

George quickly shook his head. "I'm not that stupid, and unlike _someone_," he glared at Sharp "I'm a man of my word."

There was silence.

George turned to Jeff with clasped hands. "Bro?"

Prolonged seconds ticked by before Jeff huffed. "A dead man's last wish." Leo and Psych weren't as trusting but they eventually agreed all the same, the others following their decisions with much grumbling.

George smiled like a little kid that was getting his way. "And so none of us can accuse each other of cheating, the games will be luck of the draw." He cautiously skirted around Alex and moved to his desk. From a drawer he pulled out and unwrapped a sucker, which he popped in his mouth before withdrawing a rolled up, rubber keyboard that he splayed onto the desk. After a couple strokes of the keys a window popped up on the projected screen with two labels marked Game and Players. "There," George said. "The computer will randomize a list of games that I have set up out of boredom; it will also pick who all will be playing in each game. Fair enough?"

"You already have our names in the system?" Don asked.

George shrugged. "I already figured that at least _some_ of you will wind up in here pointing some guns at me, because honestly, if you can take down Ambrose's place then you'd have no problem storming my little volcano. So I figured that if I only got one wish before one of you killed me would be to die playing games. I don't like final battles to the death; it's so messy and very cliché if I might add. Oh and also, you guys" he pointed at the four ninjas "do you have any idea how hard it is to spell your names? But anyway, here goes." He pushed the enter key, game titles and names started to flicker on the screen before finally stopping and jaws dropped at what appeared.

Game: Super Smash Bros. Brawl

Players: George VS Michelangelo

"Awesome!" Mikey exclaimed as hands slapped faces in disbelief.

"You cannot be serious," Raph said.

George grabbed a pair of wireless Gamecube controllers from his desk as a Gamecube lifted up from the floor in front of the couch. It turned itself on and the projected screen on the wall changed into the start up of the game.

"I want the black one," Mikey said as he jumped the back of the couch like it was just another day back home in New York.

"Pf, I always get the black one," George said as he sat down and tossed Mikey the purple controller as they chose their characters. "Toon Link? How could you pick _Toon_ Link?"

"What? Oh like Sonic's any better," Mikey said.

"Fine, you know what? How 'bout a good battle. Here we go, Toon Link against the real Link."

"They're both real."

"Toon Link, that one's obviously fake, duh."

"Not true! Besides, being 'real' doesn't make him better."

"Oh please, the one from the newer game is so much better. Look at him, his graphics are so much more badass."

"Yeah the newer game was pretty cool, though it was kind of confusing in Gorgon cave when you walked on the ceiling. Cool but confusing."

"I know, right? And those creatures of darkness that you have to fight within that fenced in area. They're so freaking annoying when there's more than one. I could never get the last two to die at the same time."

"It wasn't that har-"

"Would you two just play the game!" Raph cut across them making both of them jump.

"Fine, geez," George said.

"Grouch…" Mikey mumbled and received a smack to the back of the head.

The fight started and lasted for a full ten minutes. It was almost funny how George and Mike zoned out as they stared at the wall with such concentration as their thumbs attacked the buttons. In the game the two dueled it out, throwing every combo move and item they could get, knocking each other off the stage until finally the last life was lost, and Toon Link stood victorious.

"Aw dude, seriously!" George exclaimed. "I died because of a fire flower?! What kind of dignity do you have left from dying from a fire flower?!"

"And you guys say that my video games are for nothing," Mikey said behind him with a wide smile.

"Yes because you knew that one day you'd be inside a volcano, on an uncharted island, in the middle of the pacific, fighting it out with a scientist on a Gamecube," Raph stated sarcastically.

"Exactly!"

George spat his used sucker stick onto the floor in defeat, turned the Gamecube off so it could sink back into the floor and slunk off to hit the enter button. Again game titles and names started to flicker on the screen before stopping.

Game: Capture Thee Flag

Players: George VS Leonardo, Donatello, Raphael, Michelangelo, Alex, Razor, Sharp, Jeff

"Capture the Flag?" Razor read.

"No, not 'the' flag _'thee'_ flag," George corrected.

"What's the difference?" Sharp asked.

"Thee, meaning one," George said as a small swarm of flying disks came from an open slot in the wall. "It's an obstacle course game; you'll read about it in the in-game instructions."

Jeff, watching the disks and knowing to take George by his exact words asked "What do you mean 'in-game'?"

George had an untrustworthy smile on. "You'll see."

Before anyone could say anything else there was a bright green flash before everything went black.

* * *

I LIVE!!!!

_..._review.


	37. Death Race

quick ecap: everyone has made it to the center of the volcano to meet jeff's step-brother George, the head scientist of the Labs' eastern branch. Not seeming to put up much of a fight in ways of saving his life from everyone that wants to kill him (Jeff included) George offers that they play three rounds of videogames, best two out of three wins. After Mikey wins the first game half the gang is thrown into a virtual reality world to play the second game.**

* * *

**

**Chapter Thirty-Six**

**Death Race**

"Dude, head rush…" Mikey groaned as he slowly got to his feet holding his head. He didn't remember much except for a bright green flash that had nearly blinded him then waking up to nothing. Looking around he found himself in a world of black. It was so dark that he couldn't see his hand an inch from his nose.

_Wait, what if I really am blind? What if that green light had _actually_ blinded me?! _"I'M BLIND!!!" he cried out into oblivion, falling to his knees when something suddenly wrapped around his ankle and yanked down.

Before he knew it he was surrounded by light that was a little painful on the eyes. Blinking the pain away he looked around to find that he was sitting in someone's arms. "Hi Raph!"

Without a word Raph dropped Mikey.

"So what just happened?" Razor asked.

"Game glitch," Jeff said casually pointing up to a small seam in the air above their heads.

Mikey stood up and brushed himself off before actually looking down at himself. He was in what seemed to be some type of hi-tech body armor that covered most of his body and looked pretty much awesome. At his sides he pulled off a pair of metal poles and pushed a button on the sides. The poles cut in half and the top halves hung down, linked to the bottom by an orange beam of light. "Dude, laser-chucks!" Looking up with a smile he discovered that everyone else was wearing similar armor as him though each one was altered to match the person's physique. He also noticed something else "Jeff, you got your arm back!"

Jeff looked down at his right hand, one that was completely identical to his left. "No I didn't, not really. It's this game, it reconstructed us using our genetic coding and according to my DNA I still have two arms."

"So what you're saying is we're in a video game?" Don asked.

"George always did want the perfect virtual reality experience…" Jeff sighed when a digital window popped up before them. It read:

_Capture thee Flag_

Instructions

Objective: find and collect the flag before your opponent does.

The flag is marked on the map. To access the map hold down the R1 button. Any weapons/traps found in game can be used to slow your opponent down. To load a firearm or collect gas for any vehicles simply pick up/run over the ammo box/gas canister. Each player has five lives, when you run out of lives you are ejected from the game. If you are the last player standing you win by default.

"Sounds simple enough," Razor and Sharp said together.

"Where's R1?" Mikey asked looking over himself.

"It's on your wrist," Leo said pressing a blue rectangular button on his right wrist. A green hologram popped up showing a map to the land and where their location. They were in a forest at the bottom of the map while the flag was in a mountain at the top.

"It looks like we have three terrains to cross," Don observed bringing up his own map. "We need to get out of this forest, make it across a desert and scale a mountain."

"Fun…" Alex huffed.

"Come on, we might as well get started," Jeff said walking out of the small clearing that they had been standing in. Because of the graphics of the game they were forced to go down a single trail, the rest of the trees were so dense that they might as well have been brown and green walls.

It wasn't long before they came upon a cross section. They hesitated.

"Why don't we split up?" Mikey suggested. "Only one of us needs to actually get to the flag, right?"

"No need, the exit's this way," Jeff said heading right.

"How do you know?" Sharp asked as he followed.

"I grew up with George, he doesn't change much so he's a little predictable," Jeff explained over his shoulder. "I remember when he was taking this summer game programmer course and he said that in every game he made he was going to have at least one maze where the exit would always be in the right turns, just to screw with people. That and to have a giant, frozen fish be the ultimate weapon in a fight scene… and he wondered why our parents wanted him on medication. For a while they thought he was clinically insane."

"I heard that," a voice said as a digital window popped up in front of Jeff. "I was not insane, they just couldn't appreciate individuality."

"You poured acid on the keys of the piano!"

"Wasn't my fault that I was carrying a beaker of highly dangerous chemicals across the house and tripped over _your_ toy car. You never did clean up your messes."

"Oh, and it's just coincidence that that acid landed on the piano making it useless just as mom and dad were about to force you into taking lessons?"

"Yes."

"And what about the poor neighbor's dog?"

"Hey, they were told multiple times to put that thing on a leash. It's not my fault it ran in front of me while I was testing my first flamethrower."

"What do you want George?"

"Nothing," George said sounding a little too innocent. "Just figured now would be a good time to ask why you hate me so much all of a sudden."

"If you had gone through half the crap I have you'd understand."

"No I wouldn't. We're brothers, come on. Sure not by blood, but we burned our lab coats the day you left in the same flame, that's practically a blood pact!"

"Shared flame or not George, I can't just stand by and let you continue what you've been doing. These labs aren't a good place. There's no justification behind them and almost everyone I know would agree."

George was frowning, hurt, when a light seemed to click on in his head. "Oh, I also was going to tell you about-" Suddenly the ground gave way beneath their feet. Everyone except Alex, Leo, Sharp and Razor fell to the bottom of a fifty foot hole. Alex saved herself with her wings and managed to grab Razor, while reflex let Leo and Sharp reach out fast enough to grab the edges of the gap. "-the hole trap," George finished. "See ya at the finish line!" he exclaimed happily and the window disappeared.

"Guys?" Leo called down after he climbed back onto solid ground. "You okay? Say something!"

At the bottom of the hole bodies lay as pain filled masses. Ghostly green 5's hovered over the corpses. The 5's changed to 4's and disappeared.

Don painfully sat up. "Bad news: we can feel pain," he groaned. "And this armor doesn't appear to help against great falls, though as light weight as it is I shouldn't have expected as much anyway."

Raph shoved Mikey off of him and staggeringly got to his feet, popping his knuckles, wrists, elbows, knees and neck as he did. He looked up at the long drop. "Damn."

"Oh sure, save Razor!" Mikey called up when he managed to get to his feet.

"Don't even Mike, I'm always saving your butt!" Alex called down as she landed.

"Why that little, distracting piece of…" Jeff grumbled as he sat up, popping his spine.

"So 'ow we gonna get out of here?" Raph asked putting his hands on the wall of the hole. The bad graphics made the wall too smooth to try and find hand and footholds.

Leo looked at Alex.

"Yeah I got 'em," Alex huffed and jumped down, expanded wings slowing her fall so that she could touch bottom without a lost life. To make it quick she tried to lift two bodies at a time, though it was an accident trying to take Raph and Jeff together. When the four fallen were back on the surface it was decided that they needed to hurry.

They ran down the paths, taking all the right turns as Jeff suggested. Finally they came upon a river. Mikey ran ahead and skidded to a stop at the water's edge. Turning he held out his hands to make everyone else stop. "Wait! There's nothing to say that we can survive water. In some games water down right kills you."

They looked at the river. It had to have been at least twenty feet wide.

"Well, who wants to jump in first?" Alex asked.

With a quick flick of the arm Raph pushed Razor forward. "Hey does." Razor hit the water's surface and disappeared.

"Razor!" Sharp exclaimed.

"Raphael!" Leo said sharply as Razor flickered into existence beside them with a ghostly four hovering over his head before he solidified and it disappeared.

"What? He's fine," Raph said and held Razor at bay with one hand as the shark tried to push him in.

"Okay, water's bad," Mikey summed up. "How do we get across?"

"Can we jump it?" Sharp asked.

"It looks like a long shot," Leo said.

Jeff nodded in agreement. "Who wants to try first?"

Raph reached for Razor.

"Hey!" Razor yelled jumping back. "I only have four lives left! Why don't you throw Alex!"

"Hey I saved one of your lives you ungrateful little…"

Don shook his head at the arguments that started and noticed something about the wall of trees to his left. A stick seemed to be sticking out of one of the trunks. Now that he noticed it the stick seemed to be a little obvious and looked a lot like a lever. Going up to it he grabbed it and pulled down. There was a rumble from the ground followed by rocks gurgling up from the river to create stepping stones.

"That works," Jeff said. "Nice job Don."

They crossed the river and continued through the forest terrain, having to dodge traps such as rolling boulders, falling digital branches, and giant killer mushrooms that kept appearing out of nowhere. By the time they finally got out of the forest the only ones that still had all five lives were Alex and Leo.

"I knew there was a reason why I hate mushrooms…" Razor muttered as they looked out unto what they had to face next. Stretched out before them was a sandy desert under an orange, dusty sky.

Alex's ears dropped as her shoulders sagged. "I hate heat."

"It's not that hot," Mikey said.

"And you're not the one in all black," Alex pointed out when there was a ground shaking explosion, followed by a yell from above that was steadily getting louder until a falling object hit the ground with a plum of flying sand so big winces were drawn from the audience. When the grains settled there was a ghostly green three hovering over a pair of kicking legs sticking up out of the sand.

The group watched as muffled grunts came from underneath the legs. There was much wiggling before the body started to pull itself from the ground. George finally fully appeared sitting on his knees, spitting sand from his mouth. He began to dust sand from his hair and body armor when he froze and slowly looked behind him. Seeing the others standing there he made a nervous smile. He raised a hand in a half wave before scrambling to his feet and jumping over the next sand dune.

"After him!" Leo exclaimed. No one needed telling twice. They ran up the dune and jumped over the top, sliding down the slope to see George peeling out on a four wheeler, kicking up sand behind him.

George twisted around as he moved forward to make a childish face at them, complete with crossed eyes and exposed tongue.

At the bottom of the sand dune was a line of different vehicles.

"Dibs on the bike!" Raph exclaimed at seeing a motorcycle.

"That shouldn't be able to drive on sand," Don said.

"It's a game Einstein!" Mikey exclaimed as he clambered onto the back of what looked like a topless jeep with a machine gun attachment instead of a backseat. "Yo Jeff, wanna drive?"

On the way down the slope Razor tripped. After getting a mouthful of sand he turned back to see what he tripped over and found a black bump sticking out of the dune. Pulling on it a large object lifted from the sand. "Whoa. Hey Sharp, look what I found!"

"A bazooka?!"

"I think it's a grenade launcher too!" Sharp ran back and helped Razor carry it to a four wheeler.

Raph was the first one to move forward while Don and Leo claimed a second four wheeler that had two seats.

Everyone peeled out with sand flying out behind them when they had their rides, Alex watching from above as she flew over the dunes. She would let the guys handle George on the ground; she was going for the flag. Once they won this game she would have that scientist in her sharp claws. A smirk pulled at her mouth. Then after that, Ambrose is the next in line.

From her aerial perspective she could clearly see what was in store for her friends. An entire obstacle course was set up in the sand, a place that would need some precision driving to survive. If anyone happened to make it through there it was a straight shot up a narrow winding path into the mountain where the flag was waiting.

Concentration focused on getting to the flag and just how she was going to take down Ambrose she didn't notice an object flying up to her until the explosion went off. There was a moment of nothingness before she flickered back to life, a green five hovering over her head turning into a four. A moment of disorientation left room for a second explosion to repeat the last one, though this time the four turned into a three.

Shaking her head with a growl Alex looked around in time to dodge an object that exploded in the air. Looking down she saw that George was looking up at her with some kind of gun on his shoulder while he sat within the obstacle course.

The feeling for revenge was overwhelming causing Alex to dive down.

Seeing that he was in trouble George dropped the grenade launcher and cranked the accelerator to shoot forward. Even though he was trying to go as fast as he could, trying not to crash was holding him back allowing him to go slow enough for Alex to easily target. When she was directly above the scientist she flipped in the air, the turn causing the blade of her tail to slice through George's head.

His image flickered and the three over his head turned into a two. "Seriously?!" he yelled.

Alex stuck her tongue out at him and continued her flight, only to run into one of the walls that made up the obstacle course. She fell to the ground where she sat on a buried mine. When the explosion cleared she was left in the sand with a green two over her head.

"Watch where you're going!" George yelled as he passed her with a laugh.

Other explosions began to fill the air stating that the guys weren't far behind. Raph was the first one to pass by.

Already experienced on a motorcycle driving around the obstacles wasn't that hard, in fact he was quite confident that he was going to be first to the flag – or George, whichever was within reach first.

In any other time Raph would have held back some because of all the explosions he heard behind him to make sure everyone was staying alive. But this wasn't any other time, this was a game, there was no point in being worried which gave his mind full range to concentrate on catching up to the scientist.

It didn't take long for him to clear the obstacle course and he quickly zoomed across the sand that was flattening into nothing. Raph could see George up ahead, both of the racing for the mountain that stuck up from the ground to pierce the sky. A visible trail snaked around the giant rock, spiraling from the ground to the peak.

George was able to see the approaching turtle in a side mirror. With a flip of a switch the back of his ride opened up to allow a whole trail of mines to fall out onto the sand.

Raph tried to swerve to miss them but there were too many. His bike wound up hitting on the bombs. The next thing he knew he was sitting in the sand with a green one hanging over his head and no ride.

Just as he started to swear something rammed into his shoulder and he was lifted from the ground to see that George had already made it to the beginning of the mountain trail. Looking up he found a rather mad Alex that was taking him near the top of the mountain. She set him down in the middle of a clearing that branched off of the trail. "I'll go for the flag, you hold George back." Raph nodded as Alex took off again but suddenly there was a loud _crack _and Alex fell to the ground in a blinking form. Standing up a green one floated over her head. "Lightning cloud," she explained dazedly pointing at the sky before jumping back into the air.

Shaking his head, muttering how much he hated this game, Raph looked around him to find a couple toys sitting on the surrounding rocks.

…---…

George's little game was starting to become an embarrassment. By the time everyone made it out of the annoying obstacle course only Leo, Don, Mikey, and Jeff were left. Feeling of hopelessness to winning began to grow but all of them refused to give up.

They cranked their accelerators to try and close the gap and paid the price for it. Leo managed to swerve around the leftover mines that sat on the sand but Jeff hadn't been so quick and he and Mikey flickered out of their last life.

The pair's vision went black before they got a sensation of falling and suddenly landed on a hard floor. Looking around they found that they were back in George's control room though it wasn't exactly how they had left it. The ones they had left behind were strewn about the room surrounded by a mess of candy wrappers, chip bags, soda cans, and empty jars of peanut butter.

Everyone except Sharp, Razor and Psych were passed out in junk food comas. The twins were surveying the scene with a look of disappointment and utter disbelief.

Jeff shook his head at the lack of self control while Mikey walked towards the vending machines with one sentence: "I hope they didn't eat it all."

...---... ...---... ...---... ...---... ...---... ...---... ...---...

At the top of the digital mountain Alex landed in the mouth of a cave. After looking around outside to make sure no one was coming up the trail she went into the depths of the cave. After a short while the cave opened up into a cavern, the floor abruptly dropping into a dark abyss. Extremely narrow trails snaked out around the cavern to lead to a rock pillar that acted as the base to a flagpole that held a limp red flag.

Ready to get out of this stupid game, Alex flexed her wings and jumped over the void. However, she wasn't expecting something to be waiting within the darkness below.

A tentacle lashed out and wrapped around her legs before she could dodge.

"You have got to be kidding," she growled as she beat her wings against the pull and tried to slice the tentacle with her tail but to no avail. "Ah crap…" was all she could mutter before the tentacle sucked her into the darkness and out of the game.

...---...

"How far ahead do you think George is?" Leo asked as he sharply turned onto the mountain trail.

"It's hard to tell," Don replied from behind his brother as he looked up the mountain. As they drove, needing to swerve around rocks and large holes in the ground, something troubled Don in the back of his mind. "Hey Leo, if we win these games, are we really going to kill George? I know that Alex, Razor, Sharp, all the experiments want to, we ourselves don't really have a good history with scientists, but still. George seems more…"

"Different than dangerous," Leo finished. "I've thought about that too. We were all standing in the main control room, and George didn't even try to attack us with anything, isn't that odd for the top scientist? And didn't it seem like he wasn't trying very hard to keep us out."

"I don't know, the way I see it is the only reason George is dangerous is because of the size of his toys. He doesn't seem very prone on world domination, or even killing us." Don was about to say more when their riding was suddenly jerked and momentum sent the pair flying over the handlebars where they rolled across the ground.

"What was that?" Don asked dazedly once they stopped, surprisingly not losing a life at the crash.

"We must have caught on something," Leo said as he got to his feet. Don stood as well. As they walked towards the four wheeler the ground suddenly buckled and before they knew it they were caught dangling inside a net. "Okay, this game is starting to get on my nerves," Leo grumbled.

"Wow, I didn't think that it'd actually work!" a voice exclaimed with a laugh and George emerged from a near invisible seam in the air – a glitch in the game. "I wonder who's all left," he muttered when a rough, mechanical scream split the air.

"Oi! Scientist!" Raph yelled, jumping down from an overhead ridge, a giant chainsaw growling in his hands and a big smirk on his face. "I'm gonna enjoy this."

"Oh shit," George muttered as he turned and ran up the trail. Raph chased after him.

"Hey, you could get us down!" Don called after their brother but it was too late.

It was obvious that George didn't have any hope in outrunning Raph so he did the obvious thing and began to climb up the mountain rather than run along the trails. Though Raph would probably still be faster he'd be unable to use the chainsaw.

It wasn't a surprise when Raph nearly grabbed George's ankle when they reached a cave opening in the mountain. Pulling himself in George ran down the tunnel as fast as he could.

The tunnel wasn't long and opened up into the large cavern with the flag in the middle. Without faltering George ran across the narrow strip of land towards the flag, Raph right behind him.

In a final attempt to stop the scientist Raph reached for his sides and found that the game had given him sias. Trusting his aim even while moving Raph jumped up and threw the sharp pointy objects, the right one went wide, but the left one was right on target, hitting the adult in the back.

George's figure stopped and flickered giving Raph just enough time to pass him. By the time George's form solidified with a ghostly one over his head Raph had already reached the flag and grabbed the pole. Raph looked back in triumph and was annoyed to see George smiling.

The loser lifted two thumbs up and said "Kudos," before everything went black.

* * *

What's this?! I'm ALIVE?!!!? **AND YOU'RE STILL READING?!?!?!?!? **I know its been forever and a day since I've updated but I made a vow to never leave a story hanging, it just took me forever to continue!

And please review to say you don't completely hate me, or say you do hate me, either way: SAY SOMETHING!


	38. Different Kind of Scientist

**Chapter Thirty-Seven**

**Different Kind of Scientist**

George hit the floor rather hard back in the real world. He stood up holding his head as Raph, Leo and Don materialized beside him.

"Hey," George said looking himself over. "I think the trip to and from the game healed by bite wounds. Sweet." Before the scientist could do anything else, though, he suddenly found a cold steel blade under his chin. He froze for a second before sighing. "Well I lost," he said putting his hands up, then moving them into his pockets. "Go ahead."

"What? Just like that?" Sharp asked.

"What?" George asked back.

"You're gonna _die_," Sharp pointed out. "Doesn't that mean anything to you? You're just gonna let it happen?"

"No sudden trick up your sleeve or anything?" Mikey asked.

"Oh sorry, am I ruining the moment for you?" George asked. "I said best two out of three, and I lost the first two games. It's rather sad really, but a good player knows when he's passed his prime. So go ahead, slice my throat, you were all so eager to earlier."

"You have to admit that it's very anti-climatic," Razor put in.

George smiled annoyingly. He looked like he was going to say something, but nearly chuckled.

"What's so funny?" Alex growled.

"Eh, nothing," George said. "Okay, well actually two things," he admitted after a moment. "One: I don't think you can do it," he directed at Leo. "And two: you guys aren't being very logical about this whole thing."

"And you know about logic?" Jeff asked.

"Yes… somewhat." George ducked underneath Leo's sword. Everyone tensed but no one really stopped him. "I don't like repeating myself, could someone wake them up?" he asked, indicating the ones that had fallen asleep after gorging on the food they had stolen from George's vending machines.

Psych looked to the side and those on the floor jerked awake from dreams cut short. They looked around and jumped to their feet unsure of what was happening.

"Now then," George started. "If I may just point something out; you have captured and completely outnumbered not only the head scientist of these very isolated labs, but am also specialized in genetics and numerous forms of biology, along with a little psychology but that doesn't really matter at the moment."

"Get to the point," Alex near growled, tail blade scraping the floor behind her.

George sighed like a teacher sighing at a somewhat slow class. "My point is… can I have my keyboard?"

"No," Psych said flatly, still holding the scientist's wireless keyboard hostage in his hands.

"Seriously, I just want to show you something. It's completely harmless," George promised and held his hand out. "You want to search my mind for lies?"

There was a long moment of silence before Psych held it out. The experiments gaped at the gesture, but they trusted Psych's judgment nonetheless.

George held the keyboard on one arm while he managed to type with only one hand. "Let's address one thing at a time," he stated, turning towards the projected screen on the wall. A window came up to fill the entire screen. "Let's see, it's been roughly around two months since you people showed up from New York? If you were to kill me now, steal a jet, and make it all the way back to the states, don't you at least want to know what you'll be running blindly into?"

The New Yorkers looked at each other. When they had been kicked out of America the world was in a bad state against the experiment. Many of them could try to be optimistic, but they had to face the fact that everything outside of the island had probably turned for the worse in their absence.

George opened up a slideshow that was buried in a collection of files. With a keystroke the lights dimmed until only the projector's light illuminated the room with a dull glow.

Everyone stared when they saw what the slideshow consisted of.

Death, and nothing but.

Humans of all ages and race stood by dead bodies giving thumbs up and looking completely triumphant, like they had just won a race. Pictures showed men holding guns up to the heads of blindfolded experiments chained to poles. In others bloody bodies lay still with the mutilated remains of hacked off wings protruding from crimson backs. The corpses of aquatic soldiers were seen floating in shallow waters, their gills duct taped over. Experiments that would usually have extra limbs were photographed huddling against walls, gripping bleeding wounds where the limb no longer existed.

The pictures made them want to look away, but they couldn't. It was horrible, and cold, and made them feel sick and twisted inside, but they couldn't turn their heads from the slideshow.

Bomb technicians that could be remembered helping Bomber create the bomb to destroy the glass wall from the old Labs, were seen tied down with vests wired with explosives strapped to their chests.

The final picture showed up and Dev nearly choked. It was of a tall stoplight pole in a city. Hanging by nooses across the pole parallel to the ground, in a row, were fliers with their wings tied down. One of which, he knew well.

"Double D," he muttered in disbelief at what he was seeing. "He gave me blood, he- he can't be dead."

Psych managed to pull his gaze from the pictures. He covered his face with a hand, never feeling so useless. He had been with all of them since day one, but when they needed him the most, he hadn't been there.

George put the keyboard down. "Now tell me," he said, turning back to the shocked group. "What can you do to all this if you leave right now?"

Silence reigned for a long time, all of them speechless in their states of shock and depression.

Finally Leo said "And how do you think you could help?"

George shrugged. "I can't do anything about the ones that are already dead. But I can assure one thing."

"And what's that?"

"I can make sure that you don't die as soon as you get back to the US," George replied. "I promise you, as soon as you step foot in front of a human over there, there'll be a bullet through your skull faster than you can think."

"How could pull that off?" Don asked.

The scientist smiled at the green mutants. "I can make you human."

* * *

Wow, i haven't done anything in a long time. You people probably thought I abandoned the story, didn't you? well I didn't, and I'm still alive so I'm still writting, and this story will be finished some time in either the near or distant future.

On a side note: any suggustions as to what the turtles will look like as humans?


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